Tonight was the Annual Alfred E. Smith Dinner in New York City, and one of the highlights was Senator Obama took the dais and did about 12 minutes of some incredible comedy that would have killed at the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts. It was really funny watching him in White tie and Tails delivering punchlines like, "Barack is Swahili for, 'That One,' " and "I see Senator (Chuck) Shumer brought some of his loved ones, those would be the people in the back with the cameras and notebooks."
As you can see from this clip and the second one, Obama's got some comedy chops in him, which really does well for us in the long term, because nothing gets an uncomfortable situation to feel more relaxed like some great jokes. In the second part, he has no trouble being self-depricating, "One of my greatest strengths is my humility, and one of my weaknesses is that I may be a little too awesome."
Of course near the end of the appearance, he did pay a tribute to the late Tim Russert, who died unexpectedly in June, which was a nice touch. He did get serious at the end talking about the hard economic times and it brought a very good counterpoint to remind those in attendance of what they all need to do, good. All things considered, they both did pretty well.
An addendum, I figured I better include, as a matter of equal time for Senator McCain, I've included his remarks, which I must admit were also somewhat funny, including his jokes about "Joe The Plumber."
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