Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 2013-04-29

United States President Barack Hussein Obama has joked about himself as a "Muslim socialist".

Obama drew laughs during his 2013 White House Correspondents' Dinner speech which brings together the Washington press corps, reigning politicians and a number of Hollywood celebrities for a night of networking.

The Comedian-in-Chief as he was dubbed took a swipe at conspiracists who have doubted his religion, while also making light of his graying hair.

At the dinner Obama joked, "These days, I look in the mirror and I have to admit, I'm not the strapping young Muslim socialist that I used to be. Time passes. You get a little gray."

Obama is a Christian who was born in Hawaii, but he included some material for so-called "birther" movement of right-wingers who question whether the President was born in the US.

Many Americans have previously incorrectly identified Obama as a Muslim, the Huffington Post reported citing a May Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey. Of the 656 likely GOP primary voters surveyed, 12 percent said Obama was a Christian, 52 percent classified him as a Muslim, and 36 percent fell in the "not sure" category.

Since his reelection in November 2012, a host of conservative voices have referred to Obama as a socialist. Earlier in December, televangelist Pat Robertson accused Obama of not admitting to his "socialist" ways that is destroying free enterprise in America. Within the same month, Sarah Palin used the same term, warning that America's debt is putting the country on a path to communism.