President Obama drew considerable attention for a "gay joke" he told at the White House Correspondents Dinner last Saturday night, but he wasn't the first commander in chief to do so. The first president to tell a gay joke at the annual high-profile celebrity event was George W. Bush. But Obama's joke seems to have engendered more good will with the LGBT community than did Bush's joke – perhaps because Obama's drew a comparison between himself and gays, while Bush's relied on a stereotype.

At the May 9 event in Washington, D.C., Obama was four minutes into a 10-minute requisite tongue-in-cheek salute to the freedom of press when he mentioned that he and his chief campaign adviser, David Axelrod, "have been together for a long time."

"I can still remember ... that day that I called Ax so many years ago and said, 'You and I can do wonderful things together,'" said Obama. "And he said to me the same thing that partners all across America are saying to one another right now, 'Let's go to Iowa and make it official.'"

Just last month, Iowa became the third state to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. And, as the Des Moines Register noted, "Obama and Axelrod actually did seal their political marriage in Iowa, where Obama won the 2008 caucuses against tough odds. ..."

Ellen Ratner, an openly gay journalist attending the event and one among several who work for Fox News, said, "Everybody thought it was hilarious." President Bush had made a gay joke, too, several years ago, she noted, but this one went over better with the crowd.

"I thought it was very funny," said Cathy Renna, head of a gay public relations firm who also attended the function. "Clearly the audience got it." And there was prolonged laughter and applause following the joke.

But Renna said she and other gay people sitting at Ratner's Fox News table found themselves wishing out loud that Obama could be "as comfortable with the gay marriage issue when not making jokes."

Obama has been virtually silent on same-sex marriage since his inauguration. He held a town hall meeting in Iowa shortly after the Iowa Supreme Court decision, but said nothing publicly about the case. In response to a reporter's question, a White House spokesperson issued a statement saying, "the president respects the decision of the Iowa Supreme Court, and continues to believe that states should make their own decisions when it comes to the issue of marriage. Although President Obama supports civil unions rather than same-sex marriage, he believes that committed gay and lesbian couples should receive protection under the law."

When asked during a routine daily press briefing about the D.C. government's approval of a bill simply to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said only: "I'll let the city council worry about that." And when asked last week whether the White House had any reaction to Maine Governor John Baldacci's signing a same-sex marriage bill into law there, Gibbs said: "No, I think the president's position on same-sex marriages has been talked about and discussed. ... I think the president believes this is an issue that's best addressed by the states."

Of course, same-sex marriage currently does not provide full equal benefits because of the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law that Obama promised to repeal.

Renna, echoing a May 6 article in the New York Times , said she thinks there is a "growing frustration" among LGBT activists about the president's silence on LGBT issues generally and marriage in particular. While she credited Obama for making a "really accessible, funny, self-deprecating joke about marriage equality in front of 3,000 people," she lamented that, "his press secretary stumbles over a question at a press briefing."

She also noted the "huge irony that the president makes a gay joke and an out lesbian doesn't make any." She was referring to openly gay comedian and actress Wanda Sykes, who was the headliner entertainment for this year's event. Every year, the White House Correspondents group selects one entertainer to take to the podium after the president makes his remarks, and this year it was Sykes. Notably, Sykes had publicly come out as a lesbian following last year's passage of Proposition 8 and strongly supports giving same-sex couples equal access to marriage licenses. She also joined the board of the Equality California Institute. And this was the first time the high-profile gala had invited an openly gay entertainer to provide the big finish.

But at Saturday's dinner, Sykes said nothing gay-related from the podium. In one of her previously used routines, she has joked about it, saying, "If you don't believe in gay marriage, then don't marry someone of the same sex."

Bush, at the 2004 event, teased then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying that his favorite television show was Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. The Bravo series, which showed five fashion, interior decorating, and gourmet-focused gay men trying to spruce up the appearance and personal habits of somewhat disheveled straight men, was enjoying enormous mainstream popularity at the time.

"My cabinet," added Bush, "could take some pointers from watching that show. In fact, I'm going to have the 'Fab Five' do a makeover on [Attorney General John] Ashcroft."

Washington Post reporter Amy Argetsinger pointed out in a post-event online q-and-a that presidents typically hire professional comedy writers to help them out for these speeches. While one White House speechwriter "implied that some comedy writers might have been consulted" for last Saturday night's speech, she said another told her that Obama's remarks were "mostly an inside job."