Barack Obama mocked his damaging “nap” in the first debate and Mitt Romney lampooned the president’s jobs record on Thursday, as the White House foes cloaked hostility with humour at a fabled charity dinner.
Obama and his Republican foe mixed punch lines and self mockery at the Al Smith Memorial Dinner in New York with a layer of collegiality barely disguising their bitter rivalry just 18 days before a razor’s edge election.
The tuxedo-wearing candidates sat at the top table of the glittering white-tie affair, separated only by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, just two days after their latest acrimonious debate.
Romney got the first turn to speak and his debut zinger took a shot at his own wealth, saying it was nice for him and wife Ann, resplendent in a black and white dress with a cape, to slip into clothes they would wear around the house.
His speech, perhaps with more of a cutting edge than Obama’s later remarks, joked his challenger had come up with a new slogan after good employment data this month: “You’re better off now than you were four weeks ago.”
Romney said Obama’s presidency was in its final months, and said the Democrat, derided by some conservatives as a socialist, was looking around at the wealthy audience and thinking “so little time, so much to redistribute.”