On Thursday, the top two candidates in the presidential race appeared at the charity dinner of Al Smith located in New York City.
Smith, who was the former governor of New York and a presidential nominee in 1928 for the Democrats, was at one time called the happy warrior of the political battlefield by late president Franklin D. Roosevelt.
However, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were anything but happy on Thursday night when they arrived at the event held every four years.
An evening recognized for its sharp humor that often nears the line, but rarely does it cross, quickly became an uncomfortable place to be.
The evening became a replay of the previous night’s debate.
Neither Trump nor Clinton looked at ease or performed that well.
However, at the end, Trump appeared to be the one who was accepted less and appeared as if he misjudged the evening’s tone worse than did Clinton.
All those attending seemed to want the night to end, much as it seems the nation is desperate to have the worst and ugliest White House race reach its end.
The dinner on Thursday was notable due to it lacking any genuine respect or even warmth that was shown four years ago when President Obama and Mitt Romney the Republican nominee paid tribute to the families of one another after they tossed jabs back and forth.
Political humor was lacking where it should have flourished. Trump did not receive the memo on how to turn the humor on himself, as his jokes were good but seemed too cutting for Thursday’s venue.
Some of his jokes were jeered and booed which is unheard of for this event.
Trump started well as he did in Wednesday’s debate, but ran out of momentum and became brasher and brasher the longer he talked.
Clinton’s jabs were less cutting but her speech lacked the generosity that his type of event requires.
She used humor towards herself more often, once saying he was at the event because she took a break from her nap schedule referring to the claim by Trump that she is lacking in stamina.
