Locked in a tense race with time running out, US President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney took time off to exchange light-hearted jabs on Thursday in a joint appearance at a high-profile charity dinner.
Two days after a brutal debate in which they exchanged verbal blows and stalked each other on stage, Obama and Romney greeted each other warmly, dressed formally in white tie and tails.
However, the combativeness of the campaign trail was ever-present as the two foes gave back-to-back speeches at the 67th annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner.
Photo: AFP
Romney, speaking first, said Obama, who wants to increase taxes on the wealthy to help fund government programs, must have had some thoughts as he looked out at the crowd of wealthy people at the dinner.
“You have to wonder what he’s thinking: So little time, so much to redistribute,” he said.
Obama, when it was his turn, made fun of Romney’s vast wealth.
“Earlier I went shopping at some stores in Midtown. I understand Governor Romney went shopping for some stores in Midtown,” he said.
The Al Smith dinner is a glittering affair at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel where New York’s high society dined on poached lobster and rack of lamb and contributed US$5 million for various children’s charities.
Obama and Romney, facing a third and final debate on Monday in Florida, sat close to each other at the dinner, separated only by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, who spoke at both the Republican and Democratic conventions in late August and early last month.
The event is an annual speaking opportunity for presidents or presidential aspirants to test their comic skills with self-deprecating jokes usually written up by clever speechwriters. Obama made light of his much-panned performance at his first debate with Romney on Oct. 3. He said at the second debate, where he was judged the winner, he had been well-rested because of the “nice long nap I had at the first debate.”
Romney also was self-deprecating, noting that the way he prepared for the debate was to “refrain from alcohol for 65 years.” As a practicing Mormon, the former Massachusetts governor abstains from alcohol.
Obama, who frequently credits himself with ordering the mission that led to the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden last year, noted that the last debate is about foreign policy.
“Spoiler alert: We got bin Laden,” he said.
Romney tweaked Obama on the high jobless rate, saying its recent small decline meant only one thing: “You’re better off now than you were four weeks ago.”
Obama said he and Romney have some things in common, like their unusual middle names. Romney’s is Mitt.
“I wish I could use my middle name,” said Obama, whose middle name is Hussein.
If there was one thing they had in common, it was their ability to make fun of US Vice President Joe Biden, Obama’s gaffe-prone No. 2.
Obama said he sometimes hears that he is getting old and has lost a step and when he does, he says: “Settle down, Joe, I’m trying to run a Cabinet meeting.”
Romney said when Biden speaks, it usually is to Romney’s benefit, so much so that whenever his remarks are on TV it should be accompanied by a recorded message like those used in campaign ads: “I’m Mitt Romney, and I approve this message.”
Obama got in a jab at the Republicans’ use of Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood at Romney’s convention. Eastwood was panned for talking to an empty chair on stage as if Obama was sitting in it.
“Please take your seats,” Obama told the crowd, “or else Clint Eastwood will yell at them.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing