CRANBERRY TWP — Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and TV political analyst Charles Krauthammer told hundreds of enthusiastic supporters at the annual St. Barnabas Founder’s Day dinner Thursday night he believes the country will “return to itself” after President Barack Obama leaves office.

Krauthammer was in the township to receive the Hance Award, given annually to a person who embodies the qualities of Gouverneur Provoost Hance, who founded St. Barnabas Health System in 1900.

The event was at Pittsburgh Marriott North.

For more than an hour, Krauthammer tackled aspects of Obama’s presidency, told a few jokes, opined on the candidates in the 2016 presidential election and more than once quoted Sir Winston Churchill.

He said that there were “only 21 months to go” in Obama’s term, a comment that drew loud applause, cheering and laughter from the audience.

The dinner and evening’s program celebrated the 115th Founder’s Day and the employees, donors and volunteers at St. Barnabas who provide care to residents at 34 nursing home facilities. The event helps fund the St. Barnabas Free Care Fund.

John J. Curran, chairman of the board, thanked volunteers for donating funds as well as their personal time — citing an estimated 34,000 hours of volunteer work for the Presents for Patients program.

Following comments and jokes from Jim Roddey, former Allegheny County CEO, who praised the charity’s work and mission, state Rep. Mike Turzai awarded Krauthammer with a citation from the state House of Representatives.

Turzai said having an informed press that acts as a watchdog on government was important, and he commended Krauthammer for his work as a journalist and author. His column appears in the Butler Eagle.

“We need great minds, like this man, to keep us in check,” Turzai said.

After receiving the Hance Award from St. Barnabas President William Day, Krauthammer began his speech with humor, telling the audience that although he is a psychiatrist, he’s “in reality a psychiatrist in remission.”

“I’m often asked to compare my job as a psychiatrist in Boston with my job as a political commentator,” Krauthammer said. “It’s the same kind of people: they’re both filled with paranoia and delusions of grandeur.

“The only difference is the ones in Washington have access to nuclear weapons,” he said.

Mixing equal parts humor and commentary, Krauthammer explained his views of the presidency under Obama and how the country would move in a different direction once he is out of office.

Krauthammer said that in looking over the Obama presidency, it was obvious the overriding theme is that America has been engaged in “a very unusual debate, one that comes once in a generation.”

“(A) great debate that is what is the power, scope and reach of central government,” he said. “What is the proper relationship between citizen and state?”

Obama is a “man of tremendous ideological beliefs,” Krauthammer said, adding the president is “not your normal liberal.”

Describing American politics as having no “extreme parties” similar to European democracies and being “played between the 40 yard lines,” he said Obama had “a vision for America.”

“(Obama) wanted to take the ball beyond the 40 yard line and into the red zone.”

Krauthammer said he believes Obama is “more of a European social democrat” who sees “large things he wants to nationalize” such as health care, education and the energy industry.

The president’s policies of reforming health care and education as well as taking over control of the energy industry were in part accomplished with regulations and executive orders, he said.

Krauthammer said some of Obama’s executive orders could potentially be unconstitutional and illegal, calling them a “farce” and “fraud.”

“It’s a radical agenda,” he said. “This is a man who has a vision of America as social democratic.”

He said most citizens who want smaller, less intrusive government do not share Obama’s philosophies.

The “multiplications of entitlements,” Krauthammer said, creates a citizenry that is, “essentially, in the end, a slave to the government.”

Targeting ObamaCare, he said the health care reform law was “the most radical piece of social legislation in 50 years.” The law also has affected St. Barnabas, Krauthammer said, and is an example of liberal overreach of Obama’s ideas. He said the contraceptive mandate was particularly offensive to some religious groups.

Krauthammer concluded his speech saying Obama’s presidency has “left the Democrats in ruins,” and that Republicans had made significant strides to retaking control during the 2010 and 2014 elections.

The 2016 presidential election will be a contest between Hillary Clinton and one from a group of GOP challengers including Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Scott Walker, Krauthammer said.

He said Clinton does not have the same appeal and charisma as Obama and added Clinton’s base is not as broad as Obama’s was.

“Without Barack Obama, they’re going to have a tough time winning. I think the Democrats have vastly overestimated her chances,” he said. “I think there is a very good field (of Republicans).”

Krauthammer also heaped praise on the American ideals of faith, love of liberty, decency and common wisdom.

“The country remains a center-right country. I think if you can make a case to the center-right, you can win the election.”

“I think the country will return to itself,” he said.