The Al Smith Dinner

Yesterday, John McCain and Barack Obama took a break from campaigning and turned their considerable gifts towards jokes about how Obama thinks his greatest weakness is being "too awesome" and that McCain was alive during Prohibition. This wasn't SNL's Thursday night update, it was the Al Smith Dinner (videos below)... The Al Smith Dinner is held annually in late October, to honor Al Smith, former governor of New York and the first Catholic presidential candidate. The presidential candidates often appear, and often give humorous speeches, poking fun at themselves, their opponents, and the campaign so far. Some pundits on both sides of the aisle (usually the side that's losing), get really worked up that the candidates are making jokes about serious issues (here is an example from the Kerry campaign), and sometimes it is a little jarring to see the candidates making light of issues they seemed to take so seriously just days before. But, really, it's a clear sign of how great America and its political process is, that these candidates can get together, knowing the stakes are so important, and have a laugh. It's just an amusing reminder that on November 5th, one of these men will be President-elect, one will go home, and there wont be some sort of major crisis involving personal armies and violence. Look around the world, and that can really make you happy to live here.Here are both McCain's and Obama's routines this year. They are laugh-out-loud funny. Watch them all.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Goaj5V4tZoc[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrqoSyKsAPw[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXKaAQ-6BiU[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkBQf4FJi-o