Romney Laps Obama in Comedy, Policies

Thursday proved a decisive day in the presidential campaign, especially for Jewish and Catholic voters.

Thursday — October 18, 2012, as they pretentiously announce at the start of every episode of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” Influential and irreverent Jewish host, Jon Stewart (neé Liebowitz), had two segments with his special guest President Barack Obama.

Let’s just say that this show turned out to be not optimal for Democrats. Stewart asked good questions. The President gave bad answers. Stewart showed no desire to follow up. Both men seemed rather out of steam. 

The air flew out of the room when the host initially showed the President a picture of Michelle Obama glowering at her husband after the debacle which was his Denver debate. It went downhill from there.

Stewart asked the great question of how we could expect anything but stalemate if Obama is reelected along with the Republican House. Obama had no answer, just an uneven segue into his stump speech. Libya talk added yet another layer of incriminating statements for those, like me, who smell a rat.

But it was a few hours later, on the evening of Thursday, October 18, 2012, at the famed Waldorf Astoria that Obama met his Waterloo.

His opponent, Mitt Romney, showed the country he is smart and funny. Romney is unafraid. He delivered a superlative stand-up comedy routine to a crowd that included prominent Catholics, the opposition mainstream media, and President Obama.

Every joke worked at every level, much to the detriment of Obama. I thought the Secret Service might step in as the President got harpooned. But it was so gentle, artful and funny. This is the beauty of America where we have free speech.

For the first time in a while, I felt sorry for the President having to follow that act. I give him props for not running to the bathroom to throw up. The President got off some good lines of his own but he had flop sweat and he seemed distracted. Once again, he was caught in a situation that was not optimal. And he has another debate a few days away. What can he say about Libya then?

So what does that have to do with Jews? Did I mention that this was in New York City? Did I mention that Sen. Charles Schumer and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg were there at the Waldorf? Need I mention that New York City is the capital of Jewish America (something the Islamists never seem to forget)?

But it comes down to this. Jews like comedy. Our many Nobel Prize winners make us proud, but far more disproportionate is our contribution to comedy. From the Borscht Belt to Hollywood, Jews and comedy have always gone together.

Groucho Marx, Milton Berle, Jack Benny, George Burns, Rodney Dangerfield, Henny Youngman, Sid Caesar, Woody Allen, Buddy Hackett, Jerry Lewis, Don Rickles, Jon Stewart, Jerry Seinfeld, and the list goes on for hours. Jews are connoisseurs of comedy.

Thursday, October 18, 2012, was a very big night for Romney. He might even get the majority of Jewish votes.

Catholics also like to laugh. The Church would prefer that the government leave their parishioners alone and not force them to finance abortion or contraception. Obamacare is not Cardinal Dolan’s favorite set of laws. Devout Catholic John Roberts left it up to the electorate to render its verdict on Obamacare in November. Perhaps our shrewd Chief Justice anticipated all of this unfolding at a dinner celebrating the legacy of Al Smith, America’s first Catholic nominee for the Presidency.

Al Smith did not win, but he paved the way for America’s first Mormon President. After the Thursday Thumping in NYC, the necessary number of Catholics, Jews, and others will make Mitt Romney our 45th President.