NEW YORK - After a week dominated by "pig-with-lipstick" politics, John McCain and Barack Obama vowed to put politics aside for the night.

During a forum billed as "a conversation of service" at Columbia University, Obama and McCain shared the stage for a brisk hug and handshake. They seemingly putting aside a week of harsh rhetoric and agreed on one thing: a nonexistent position in each other's Cabinet.

When asked if McCain would make the public service czar a Cabinet-level position and appoint Obama if he were to win, the Arizona Republican smiled and said yes. Obama agreed, with a caveat: "We have a little work to do before we get to that point."

There were a number of agreements that punctuated the uncharacteristically non-confrontational joint appearance. They agreed that Columbia and other universities should reinstate its ROTC programs and that the government should spend taxpayer's money to emphasize public service.

But in a rare departure from the niceties, McCain had criticism for Obama. When asked if he regretted vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's belittling of Obama's role as a community organizer in his 20s, he brushed it off, saying politics is a "tough business."

"I think the tone of this whole campaign would have been very different if Senator Obama had accepted my request for us to appear in town hall meetings all over America," he said. Seconds later, he retreated, saying the candidates needed to "set aside partisanship for this day."

Still, some partisan chatter emerged. McCain called for a larger military at least three times while Obama emphasized that it was his campaign that first took up the message of change.

"Part of my job I think as president is to make government cool again," Obama said to applause. "And to say to young people even as we're transforming Washington, come up. We want you."

It seemed to have resonated. A throng of students waited afterward for Obama when it was announced that he had left.

Even on a cloaked political theater, a curtain has to close.