THANK GOD: Timothy Cardinal Dolan, between President Obama and Mitt Romney, acknowledges applause last night during the Alfred Smith Dinner at the Waldorf, where the candidates used good-natured quips instead of angry barbs. (AFP/Getty Images)
THANK GOD: Timothy Cardinal Dolan, between President Obama and Mitt Romney, acknowledges applause last night during the Alfred Smith Dinner at the Waldorf, where the candidates used good-natured quips instead of angry barbs. (AFP/Getty Images)
Only in America.
In the grubby world of the campaign yesterday, there was no let-up as supporters and surrogates kept the bitter battle going. But inside the grace-filled glitter palace of the Waldorf-Astoria last night, President Obama and Mitt Romney shared a stage, a meal and stood united in homage to the eternal values of a singular nation.
Instead of going for the jugular, the annual Al Smith charity dinner had them going for laughs — and both came away a winner. Less than 48 hours after they ripped each other in a debate, they turned backstabs into backslaps and insults into jokes.
To see them lob political pillows at each other, then laugh in genuine amusement at their own foibles, is tonic for cynical and campaign-weary hearts. For two hours, it felt as if the outcome of the election isn’t the matter of life and death that it so often seems. How could it when red-hot issues from the race were recycled as side-splitting humor?
Romney began his 10 minutes at the microphone by poking fun at his wealth, saying that the elaborate gowns for women and formal tails for men made him comfortable because “it’s what Ann and I wear around the house.”
The president showed he can laugh at himself, too, saying he had much more energy in the second debate “because of the nice, long nap I had in the first one.”
Great credit goes to Cardinal Dolan, who sat between the erstwhile warriors during dinner and acted as chaperone and buffer all night. The three stood together in the receiving line, then shared squirts of Purell hand sanitizer, a witness said.
With distinct Irish-American overtones, Dolan channeled the spirit of Al Smith, the former governor of New York, who in 1928, became the first Roman Catholic to be the presidential nominee of a major party. Recalling that Smith, who lost to Herbert Hoover, was called “the happy warrior,” Dolan reminded the audience of 1,600 people that the church believes that “joy is the infallible sign of God’s presence.”
In that case, He was everywhere. Smith’s great-grandson, also named Al, set the tone. He raised a Big Gulp cup to Mayor Bloomberg and said Gov. Cuomo’s ambition reminded him of the ominous music from “Jaws.”
He took double aim at Romney’s family. Noting that Romney’s father was born in Mexico and that the Romneys have five sons, he deadpanned, “Are you sure you’re not Catholic?”
A minute later, he looked at Obama and said, “Your opponent produced more sons than you did jobs.”
Then the candidates did their own comic routine. Of the president, Romney said that, as his term runs out, the president is thinking “so little time, so much to redistribute.”
He turned the teaching that St. Peter built the church into a zinger, saying skeptics declared, “You didn’t build that.”
In one pivot, he started by saying of his attack on PBS, “Big Bird never saw it coming,” then said a new story on “Sesame Street” “is brought to you by the letter ‘O’ and the number 16 trillion.”
Obama, who spoke for nine minutes, seemed slightly more subdued, but also captured the meaning of the night. He said New Yorkers especially had a big choice in the election: “Which one of us will tie up traffic for the next four years.”
He also joked about his “build that” line, saying that, as a student at Columbia, he used to visit the old Yankee Stadium, “the House that Ruth Built.” After a pause, he added, “although, he didn’t really build that.”
Obama also noted that “Mitt” is Romney’s middle name, then added, “I wish I could use my middle name.”
As for Monday’s debate on foreign policy, he declared, “Spoiler alert: We got bin Laden.”
Obama and Romney shared two themes: Both made fun of Vice President Joe Biden and closed with praise of each other as loving family men and fathers. Those heartfelt moments moved me to rare applause for politicians.
The laughter and good cheer will soon fade as the rivals go back to their corners and come out swinging. That’s democracy at work, messy and contentious.
But last night was a reminder that, when the people have spoken and the votes are counted, America will endure because it always has and because it must.
What a country.