You Decide: Is Obama Arrogant or Awesome?

By Roll Call Staff

Posted May 3, 2016 at 2:49pm

<!– space fix –>

President Barack Obama made sure his final White House Correspondents’ Dinner would be memorable on Saturday. After a merciless roast of Donald Trump, the president said he had just two last words: “Obama out,” after which he dropped the microphone to the ground and walked away from the podium.

Dropping the microphone and walking offstage has long been a dramatic, if abrupt, way to end a speech. But it’s taken on a new life on the internet in recent years, with #micdrop coming into wide use on Twitter as a conclusion to a forceful message, a way to say the writer won’t be continuing a conversation or taking questions.

<br /> <div style=”display: none;”><br /> <section><br /> <h2>Obama’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner Mic Drop:</h2><br /> </section><br /> <section><br /> <h3>Arrogant</h3><br /> </section><br /> <section><br /> <h3>Awesome</h3><br /> </section></div><br /> <!– space fix –></p> <p>&nbsp;</p><script id="5e2bd50d2be64735bd9c6970a280aeab">(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=9484058d-cb86-4c6b-b476-f5e62bd11798&cid=69ef7590-f88b-4a7b-b1ad-bbee64894f4f'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "9484058d-cb86-4c6b-b476-f5e62bd11798" }).render("5e2bd50d2be64735bd9c6970a280aeab"); });</script></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>

While there’s a long history of mic-dropping in comedy and hip-hop, comedian Chris Rock was a major popularizer, making it a regular part of his standup sets in the 2000s. It took Obama to bring mic-dropping to the highest office in the nation.

<!– space fix –>