"ROSA PARKS sat so that Martin Luther King could walk. Martin Luther King walked so that Obama could run. Obama is running so that we can fly."

This is all over the Internet. It's inspiring, I guess, but if Dorothy Parker were still here, she might well say cynically, "Tonstant weader fwowed up!"

Still, when I stepped to the podium Wednesday night at the Landmarks Conservancy gala in Cipriani 42 Street, my first words -- "Is everybody happy?" -- were met with an explosion of screams and applause from the black-tie audience. I followed by congratulating all the "socialists" and "communists" in the room! Big laughs.

It's easy to get laughs right now, either with the old Ted Lewis chestnut "Is everybody happy?" or with mild wisecracks. I have seldom experienced such an atmosphere of levity and joy. People are literally burbling, foaming at the mouth with happiness, asking each other, "Where were you election night? Did you see the crowds in front of the White House, in Times Square, in Chicago, all over the world! It was the Super Bowl, the Millennium and New Year's Eve all rolled into one!"

Yes, yes, yes. And I feel happy too, as if America is recovering from a long illness. So, the distinguished persons selected as "Living Landmarks" for 2008 were one and all greeted with laughing enthusiasm -- Phyllis Newman, Charlie Rose, Barbara Goldsmith, Rosamond Bernier, Judy Collins and, posthumously -- Oz Elliott and John Russell. (We even got around to making some upbeat remarks about that as Inger Elliott and Rosamond Bernier accepted for their late husbands.) And the choice of the great singer, Ms. Collins, was important, for she gave us a closing a capella rendition of several songs, including "We Shall Overcome." This was startling and wonderful, a regular benediction. Congressman Charles Rangel who received the Lewis Rudin Award was in tears.

BANDLEADER Peter Duchin and I had started "seriously" with a song where the verse began: "Let it rain and thunder/ Let a million firms go under/I am not concerned with/stocks and bonds that I've been burned with ... who cares what Fox and MSNBC chatters/Landmark love's the only thing that matters!"

That's the 1931 Gershwin ode to the Depression. We did it with a few changes: "Who cares if the sky falls into the sea?/Who cares what banks fail in Yonkers/ Long as we've got a kiss that conquers./Why should we care?/Life's an Obama jubilee! So long as I care for you/And you care for me."

We didn't quit, going on with: "Who cares if Alaska goes half-baked in the sea/The GOP can go sailing/Wait till 2012 and President Palin!" Big drum roll here!

We had to stop then for the torrent of guffaws in the room. I think we ended with "Who cares how history rates us/Long as Bloomberg intoxicates us/Why should we care/If a bear comes to call/As long as Landmarks agree/That we care for we!"

Ok, I guess you had to be there.

I ALREADY told you Monday is a night of insanity in New York City with Glamour's Women of the Year at Carnegie Hall, Baz Luhrmann bringing his movie "Australia" to MOMA and Harry Evans with a politics symposium in the Rainbow Room.

Also, Monday -- The original "Side Man" cast reunites for a 10th anniversary benefit reading for Opening Act at New World Stages. This Warren Leight autobiographical jazz play won the Tony. Now VIPs like Edie Falco, Frank Wood, Michael Mayer, Angelica Torn will reunite. Contact www.openingactnewyork.org.

But the most compelling place to be, in my humble opinion, is the O'Neill Theater where the distinguished star Annette Bening will perform "All About Eve" with a fabulous cast of Brian Bedford, Zoe Caldwell, Peter Gallagher, Joel Grey, Angela Lansbury, Cynthia Nixon, John Slattery, Jennifer Tilly, Steve Ross and Keri Russell. Call for tickets at 212-221-7300, ext. 133. This benefit for the Actors Fund is a true "don't miss" if ever I heard one. And there's a party afterward at Bond 45.

QUEST IS delivered for November with "The "Entertaining Issue" showing on the cover guests at a masquerade ball at the Stork Club in 1941. I am a sucker for this stuff. But I'm even more intrigued by the tease for their coming winter issue, which has me profiling the Living Legend Kim Novak. Yes! The piece is written and if I do say so myself -- it's fantastic.

FRANK LANGELLA is asking audiences at "A Man for All Seasons" to give it up for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

He says people are so exuberant about the election that they interfere with his plea, screaming, "Obama! Obama!"

THE CANCER Survivors Hall of Fame honors Jane Brody, Dr. Richard Silver and my favorite cop, Ray Kelly on Nov. 17 at the Hilton. Kasia and Doug McCormick will chair. This group worked hard to get this event together. They suffered in 2001 when the party planned for November at Windows on the World, of course, did not happen. This year they deserve a break. Call 212-213-1166.

(E-mail Liz Smith at MES3838@aol.com, or write to her c/o Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207.)

If any of you guys really thought you were going to buy sex with models like Cindy Crawford and Tyra Banks, give up that fantasy right now.

Elite Model Management, which has repped those world-class beauties and many others, has won its cybersquatting standoff with the owners of an escort service that tried to take advantage of the Elite name by tagging their Web site with the domain Elitemodel.cc.

"Elite management is a highly respected and established introduction company that delivers an exemplary personal service to people of style and sophistication," the escort service's Web site claimed.

For a $7,500 membership fee, would-be customers could choose from a buffet of nude and partially nude gals with whom they'd like to share some quality time or, as the site puts it, "the ultimate in companionship."

And they're always looking for new recruits. Ashley Dupre, are you out there?

"To keep up the high standard we are particularly interested in world-class runway models, Playboy centerfolds, glamour models and TV movie actresses," the Web site said.

Attorney Abraham Skoff said the unnamed owners, who listed a Park Avenue address, took down the site soon after Elite Model Management filed the lawsuit last summer, The New York Daily News' Tom Zambito reports.

They never bothered to respond to trademark-infringement claims made by Elite lawyers, prompting Federal District Court Judge P. Kevin Castel to issue a default judgment in Elite's favor.

Elite runs its own Web site, elitemodel.com, featuring some of the 800 waif-thin models across five continents who make it one of the world's largest modeling agencies.

Skoff recently told Castel the company won't be seeking a damages award.

"This type of cybersquatting is a big issue," said Skoff, who regularly trolls the Internet looking for new offenders.

FRENCH PHILOSOPHER GETS COZY WITH HEIRESS

Married French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy and brewery heiress Daphne Guinness aren't doing much to conceal their closeness. Guinness, looking smashing in a Marchesa number, was holding hands with BHL at the Election Night party hosted by Harvey Weinstein and Georgette Mosbacher. Guinness and Levy's thing is said to have intensified at the end of the summer when his actress wife, Ariel, was off filming in Mexico. "Ariel must know what's going on," says a friend. "But she's not moving out. She lives for him and she's hoping Daphne will finally give up." . . .

We hope Gwen Stefani can take a joke. The pop star's hubby, Gavin Rossdale, dissed his wife during an acoustic performance at the VH1 Save the Music Foundation in Hollywood. After playing a cover of Stevie Nicks' "Landslide," the former Bush singer told the crowd "(Nicks) is a goddess and the queen." A guest screamed out, "What about Gwen?!" to which Rossdale quipped, "Gwen is second . . . She's the princess." . . .

Celebs such as Leonardo DiCaprio, John Mayer and Hugh Grant have new artwork to stare at while they revel at the Rose Bar. The chic spot at Ian Schrager's Gramercy Park Hotel recently swapped out old Andy Warhol and Julien Schnabel paintings for new pieces by Damien Hirst and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Nur Khan, Rose Bar's creative director, tells us. . . .

Howard Stern and Eli Manning are among the celebs who donated drawings to the recent Doodle for Hunger IX auction benefiting the Capuchin Food Pantries. Howard's self-portrait is pretty cool. Eli's picture of himself? Well, let's just say he's a great passer.

With Sean Evans and Shallon Lester. Edited by Lance D. Debler.

(Got a hot tip? Send confidential e-mail to rushmolloy@nydailynews.com)