The White House Correspondents dinner drew journalists, politicians, Hollywood stars and business executives last night.

But centre-stage was President Barack Obama's speech.

He got in quick with a joke on himself over the disastrous website rollout for his health insurance reform legislation.

"Of course we rolled out healthcare.gov. That could have gone better. In 2008 my slogan was 'yes we can'. In 2013 my slogan was 'control-alt-delete'"

He took a swipe at conservative opponents for praising Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"You'd think they'd appreciate a more assertive approach considering that the new conservative darling is none other than Vladimir Putin. Last year Pat Buchanan said Putin's headed straight for the Nobel Peace Prize. He said this and I know it sounds crazy but to be fair they give those to just about anybody these days."

It wasn't all smooth running...as Obama's video message marking the 100th year of the White House Correspondents' Association showed.

More than 2000 people packed the ballroom of the Washington Hilton for this year's event.

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