truth as approximation

I just finished watching Obama's speech at the correspondents dinner. First, it's very refreshing to have a president that is circumspect and confident enough to be able to poke fun at himself and his administration. The picture of Obama sitting down for a conference with Captain Hook I thought was particularly tasteful.

But I actually thought the best moment was towards the end of the speech, around 15:25 in the youtube video, when Obama was addressing in a fairly serious manner the state of modern media and their importance in society, etc. When listing a bunch of other values, Obama said "we look to you for truth, even if it's always an approximation," which was followed by a burst of laughter in the audience. Despite the laughter, I had the feeling that it was not actually intended as a joke, and the audience just sort of didn't get it. Either way, though, I think it highlights what a monumental shift we've had from the last man in charge. I mean, recognizing the heuristic difficulties of truth prediction is something of a far cry from "the axis of evil."