Learn English – What does President Obama’s joke, “Bucket taking executive action on immigration,” “Bucket new climate regulation” mean

meaningusage

There were the following lines in President Obama’s speech delivered in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner held on April 25 at the Washington Hilton Hotel:

“Just this week, Michele Bachmann predicted I would bring about the
biblical end of days. Now that’s a legacy. – – I am determined to make
the most of every moment I have left. After the midterm elections, my
advisors asked me “Mr. President, do you have a bucket list?” And I
said, “Well, I have something that rhymes with bucket list.” Take
executive action on immigration. Bucket. New climate regulations.
Bucket. It’s the right thing to do.”

I heard the word, “bucket” being used in this way for the first time. Does it mean “to keep” something in a priority to do-list, or just "Forget it"?

Is it a common usage of “bucket” as a verb (here in imperative form), or is it usable in this way only in connection with “bucket list”?

Best Answer

The hidden meaning appears more clearly in the audio version.

Bucket list:

noun

informal A number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime:

making this trip is the first thing on my bucket list

Metaphoric application to things you would like to accomplish before the end of your second term as president:

“Mr. President, do you have a bucket list?”

So what rhymes with bucket list?

F#@k it list!

This is a play on words based on the implication of a vivid imagination:

Take executive action on immigration.
[Rhymes with] Bucket.
New climate regulations.
[Rhymes with] Bucket.

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