Is the Press Afraid to Criticize President Obama? White House Correspondent Dinner 2011 Changes Course.

I remember having a lot of laughs at the expense of George Bush, Bill Clinton, Reagan, and others. It was the one time poking the president was OK, and done with leveity by those who had the best knowlege of what was happening in politics. Sharp, witty, but with class and good nature. Like the Dean Martin Roasts.  But last night's Press Dinner although funny in parts felt more like watching some bullies who were a lot bigger than their prey, and reminded me of a meanspirited chicago Political Campaign more than the typical WHCD dinner*.
I am hearing from my friends in DC, and reading a few reports, that it appears as if reporters are afraid of the administration....
and BTW
where are all the reports about the protests against the war?*** wars?
Protests?

Obama's birth "video" "oops, back to square one..." heh.

The worst part for me, that made me cringe, was when the President knew and recited details about

 the TV show trump hosts, and sarcastically said, "nicely managed" or some such spank.

That is, he was actually, seriously trying to --at best discredit trump (discredit trump!)- or worse, engage in a snarky insult contest with donald trump at this dinner as if he needed to start running against him campaign-wise. Holy moley. It just felt tacky.

*"Often a reflection of the times, the after-dinner comments by the president are generally an opportunity for taking a few shots at the media, their political opponents and, most importantly, themselves... For his last of eight straight appearances at the dinner, Bill Clinton starred in one of the most memorable video productions in the history of the event, portraying himself as a latch-key president who wandered the halls of the White House, answered phones and manicured the grounds as the rest of the staff, his vice president and his wife abandoned him for future endeavors."

***John Stossel states, "The anti-war movement was all over the news before President Obama was elected. But apparently they weren’t really anti-war ... . Two college professors just released a study of national protests between 2007 and 2009. What did they find?… After January 2007, the attendance at antiwar rallies [measured in] roughly the tens of thousands, or thousands, through the end of 2008.… After the election of Barack Obama as president, the order of magnitude of antiwar protests dropped [...] Organizers were hard pressed to stage a rally with participation in the thousands, or even in the hundreds. For example, we counted exactly 107 participants at a Chicago rally on October 7, 2009.Amazing. Especially because the war in Afghanistan ramped up after Obama was elected. American fatalities shot up in 2009 and 2010. The protesters have remained silent over Libya. "

I"m just curious about our integrity as individuals and as groups and as press...