above is the hopeful crowd in january, below is a comment from the huffingtonpost. someone got it! it seems that the "dope" reference is alive and understood on the netroots! i certainly hope you are right about the resiliency of the obama administration. -java
Obama's Rope A Dope
Even when I was a little kid, I used to love to watch Mohammed Ali box. I'd sit cross-legged on the living room floor in front of my daddy's chair, and we'd watch him outsmart and outbox every contender, from the time he won the gold at the Olympics as Cassius Clay, to the time they took away all his belts and awards when he refused to fight in another unjust and unnecessary war, to when he came roaring back and won them all over again.
We loved watching him spar with network sportscaster Howard Cossell, and I always got a kick out of his mouthing and trash-talking for the television cameras.
Still, I heard all the snide remarks that were made when he became a Muslim and changed his name.
When he first went into a decline with Parkinson's disease, and sportscasters whispered that he'd taken too many blows to the head, he looked straight at the camera and said, "Too many blows to the head? Do you think I'd let anybody get near enough to mess with this pretty face?"
From the beginning of his meteoric rise in boxing, Ali was a cool cat all his own, and from the beginning, he was misunderstood and underestimated.
They thought he was "cocky" and "arrogant" (code-words for "uppity black man"). Talking in rhyme was funny and made good TV, but they weren't really paying attention to what he was saying. And he'd lost some serious fights before facing the formidable George Foreman in 1974. Foreman was a powerful fighter with forearms like cement blocks. He was favored to win--Foreman thought he was going to win, too. In fact, he thought he'd polish off the older Ali fairly early in the fight.
But Ali had done a great deal more than just build up his physical prowess in the gym. He had done some serious of strategizing with his team. And they'd come up with something Ali, in his typical poetic fashion, liked to call "the Rope-a-Dope."
Here is how the fight is described on the "School for Champions" website:
"Before the fight, Ali had been boasting how he was too fast for Foreman to keep up with him. Typically, Ali had set up his opponents through boasting and taunting before a fight. He would make fun of an opponent or predict which round he would knock out the opponent. The press would eat this up.
"Ali's boasting of his speed and the way he opened the first round of the fight with a flurry of punches probably set up Foreman and his corner that Ali would try to win using his speed."Foreman and author Norman Mailer claimed they saw Ali's trainers loosen the ropes before the fight. Foreman was not aware that there was meaning to the madness. It is not certain whether it was Ali's idea or the idea of his trainer Angelo Dundee. Most likely Dundee was instrumental in the whole fight strategy, since he was one of the best fight trainers.
"Adjusting the environment is not uncommon in sporting events. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams would often take air out of the game balls in an effort to slow down Michael Jordan. After learning about this, coach Phil Jackson always checked the air pressure of the balls to make sure they were to specification.
"Foreman came out of his corner in the second round expecting a toe-to-toe battle. Instead, Ali leaned back against the ropes and let Foreman flail away at him. He would taunt Foreman to come and get him and then lean back, only protecting his face. This made Foreman angry and later frustrated, as he gave his best shots to Ali's midsection. But the give in the ropes was sufficient to reduce the damage.
"When Foreman did throw a punch at his face, Ali was able to lean back or move his head just enough that the blow missed or had little impact. This was a special skill Ali had through most of his career. He would often hit an opponent while pulling back to avoid a counterpunch.
"Although he primarily used the rope-a-dope technique, Ali occasionally counter-attacked with fast, crisp blows to Foreman's face. Then he would slip back into the defensive mode. In this way, he was controlling the pace of the fight, according to his liking.
"By the seventh round, Foreman had essentially punched himself out. His arms were tired and sometimes hanging on his side. Ali then used his speed and energy to do damage to Foreman, who was just trying to get in one good punch for a knockout. Ali taunted Foreman by saying, "George, it that all you've got?" Foreman realized that it was all he had."
Foreman, in fact, was so devastated by the outcome of the fight that he retired from boxing at the age of 28. Both men, of course, went on to be successful in their own rights and to make an impact on the world in their own ways. But I have been thinking a lot lately about Ali's boxing career and especially his "rope-a-dope" strategy.
And I think it's come to life again, in the Obama campaign.
Obama has taken many body blows during this lengthy campaign, first from Hillary Clinton and her many surrogates, and now from John McCain and his two surrogates, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham. Recently, during the only real vacation he's had in two years, the McCain campaign released a different sneering smear-ad pretty much every day of the week.
And oh! How the pundits pontificated!
And oh! How the Democrats despaired!
And oh! How the polls plunged!
And oh! How the Republicans have gone on being their usual snotty selves.
A grass-roots fire is raging all across the land, that somehow, poor wittle Obama has let himself get beat up by Bad Old McCain. Hillary people are saying, See, we told you so!
It's all over! Forget the convention! Just take the sweaty towel away from the trainer in the corner and toss it into the middle of the ring!
The fight's over!
But, see, all this tongue-wagging really fails to take into account that this political boxer may actually have a strategy of his own. Call it, roping a dope.
All summer, during the early rounds of the fight, most Americans have not been paying that much attention while McCain has landed one body-blow after another. When they do look up, they see a fighter on the ropes, holding up his fists to protect his face, maybe getting in a jab or two in self-defense.
He's weak! they cry. He's getting the crap beat out of him!
But is he? Is he REALLY?
Right now he's got a fortune in the bank, no debt, more money pouring in every month--and while that's going on, he's working hard to unify a party exhausted and irritated at one another after the tiresome primary season. Call it lots and lots of working out at the gym, strengthening those abs so they can withstand the hard punches.
Meanwhile, his trainer stepped in before the match and loosened the ropes--meaning, it may not be readily apparent simply because the campaign hasn't trumpeted it loudly to media far and wide--but hard-hitting Obama attack ads have been quietly playing in swing states all over the country, delivering sharp jabs to McCain. They don't smear McCain's character or make up baseless crap about him or pretend that Britney Spears matters worth a damn to anybody in this country except Britney Spears--but they deliver sharp counterpunches on McCain's weakest policy positions, and they're landing more than a few bruises in the states where the fight hangs in the balance.
Now, after the two conventions--in the last rounds of the fight--McCain's going to have to rely on public financing. Not that he won't be bolstered by the RNC and 527 groups--but he will be facing, during that time, a formidable Obama fund-raising advantage.
And that's not all.
While McCain has been exhausting himself throwing wild punches that attack Obama's patriotism and his celebrity and whatever other body parts he can hit, Obama's organization has swiftly spread out over 50 states, setting up voter-registration drives, satellite campaign offices, signing up more than two million supporters online--and then asking them to do more than just donate.
They're being asked to canvass and make phone calls and blog and text-message and circulate Obama e-mails and give their TIME and their ENERGY and their RESOURCES--not just their money.
By the time we get to the last couple of rounds of this fight, Obama is going to come full-on into his own. He will get his strength and stamina from US--all of us out here who are in the ring with him. We will be energized and, to coin a phrase, "fired up and ready to go."
And when that happens, most of the country WILL be watching. They'll see a tired old man throwing ineffectual, wild punches.
And they'll see a fighter in his prime, dancing away from the ropes, landing the knock-out blows.
The Health Care Mess: Who’s To Blame?
By Bernie Horn
August 20, 2009 - 7:05am ET
August has been a frustrating month for progressives who seek quality, affordable health care for every American. Why does the Administration vacillate? Why does the media legitimize the opinions of right-wing liars and kooks? Why can’t congressional leaders get their act together? Most of all, who’s to blame?
Not President Obama. Sure, the White House has made its share of mistakes, but they have been minor. The Obama strategy has been consistent and firmly based on political realities. One reality is that Obama cannot dictate the details of legislation to members of Congress, even to loyal Democrats. The Administration’s job is to help, guide, and cajole lawmakers to craft the most effective plan that can possibly be enacted into law—and the measure that has taken shape in the U.S. House fits that description. As a former Senator, Barack Obama knows that no one, not even the President, can order around U.S. Senators. Each Senator has his or her own political kingdom, and insists on being treated as royalty. It is not Obama’s fault that a handful of Democratic Senators are not, and never were, progressives. More about that in a moment.
Not “the Democrats.” Let’s be reasonable. No one controls the whole Democratic Party. But Speaker Pelosi and her leadership team have done a pretty impressive job of getting House Democrats to support the stimulus, the FY2010 budget, and a strong health care bill. The “Blue Dog” caucus of Democrats remains a stumbling block. But Pelosi and her whips have already shown their power and determination—when push comes to shove they will succeed in passing a pretty strong health care plan. Sadly, the Senate is a different matter. Senator Reid has perhaps been too patient while Senator Baucus fiddles around with phony bipartisanship. In any case, the majority of Senate Democrats have, so far, worked faithfully for a real health care solution.
Not the progressives. You never thought we progressives were to blame, of course. But the media have recently suggested that the proponents of a public health care option are holding up legislative progress. The Washington Post even found some unnamed source in the White House to say:
I don't understand why the left of the left has decided that this is their Waterloo… We’ve gotten to this point where health care on the left is determined by the breadth of the public option. I don’t understand how that has become the measure of whether what we achieve is health-care reform. It’s a mystifying thing…
Okay, maybe some blame is appropriate here. During the past year, what planet was this spokesperson on? Progressives have made it entirely clear why the public health care option is essential—and Barack Obama agreed during the campaign! The President is now going around the country arguing for the public option. In poll after poll, Americans overwhelmingly support a public option—we are fighting for the will of the people. What’s so mysterious about that?
Not the Republicans. Well yes, of course they're at fault for opposing health care reform. But really, who’s surprised? If there was any hope of Republicans working in a bipartisan fashion this year, that hope was shattered by their irresponsible obstructionism during the stimulus debate. As Campaign for America’s Future co-director Robert Borosage made very clear, the vision of bipartisan health care legislation has been proven a fantasy:
The effort to gain bipartisan support was torpedoed by the leading Republican negotiator, Senator Charles Grassley, when he revealed his true colors by embracing the vicious inanity about “death panels.” He aligned himself with the wingnuts, and there is simply no reason or way to negotiate with lunacy…. More to the point, the Republican National Committee scorns [any reform] as a “government take over of health care.”
The point is, except for a very few reasonable GOP Senators like Olympia Snowe, we never were going to get Republican cooperation. The Republicans never were the solution.
Not the right-wing crazies. A frantic fringe of militants are being mobilized and used by the likes of Dick Armey and Newt Gingrich—who themselves are acting on behalf of wealthy GOP interests—to shout down Democrats, progressives, moderates, and even well-intentioned conservatives. We know that these people do not represent the silent majority. They are merely the same old John Birch Society-types who continually shriek absurdities (e.g. “Get us out of the U.N.!), but who are—for good reason—almost always ignored. Except to the extent that any wavering Democrats take them seriously, the tea-baggers are irrelevant. We need to answer their lies and de-legitimize their hate speech. But they are not our focus.
A very small group of so-called moderate Democrats are to blame.
This legislation, or at least much of it, requires a 60 vote majority to pass the Senate. At best, we might hope to persuade two or three Senate Republicans to support it. Sadly, we cannot count on our long-time health care leader, Senator Edward Kennedy, to be available for the vote (and an unusual provision in Massachusetts law makes it impossible for him to be quickly replaced).
So we need the vote of nearly every Senate Democrat and a handful currently stand in the way, including the likes of Max Baucus (MT), Evan Bayh (IN), Ben Nelson (NE), Mary Landrieu (LA), and Blanche Lincoln (AR). None of these Democrats ever professed to be a liberal or progressive. Their voters elected them as moderates or conservatives. We think the right thing to do is obvious. But it’s not obvious to them.
We progressives need to persuade them (and a few House Blue Dogs as well) that real health care reform is not liberal or conservative, it is neither too expensive nor too radical, and it is no danger to the market system—rather, it will help businesses both large and small. The President, congressional leaders, and grassroots activists need to focus on these few target Democrats and make them understand that the progressive vision for health care reform is essential—it is the only way—to provide for the security of all Americans, our children and their children.
The challenge is clear. Go get ‘em.
The writer is a Senior Fellow at Campaign for America’s Future and author of the book, “Framing the Future: How Progressive Values Can Win Elections and Influence People”.
AUTHOR: Benjamin Franklin (1706–90)
QUOTATION:
“Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”“A Republic, if you can keep it.”
ATTRIBUTION:The response is attributed to BENJAMIN FRANKLIN—at the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, when queried as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation—in the notes of Dr. James McHenry, one of Maryland’s delegates to the Convention.
McHenry’s notes were first published in The American Historical Review, vol. 11, 1906, and the anecdote on p. 618 reads: “A lady asked Dr. Franklin Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy. A republic replied the Doctor if you can keep it.” When McHenry’s notes were included in The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, ed. Max Farrand, vol. 3, appendix A, p. 85 (1911, reprinted 1934), a footnote stated that the date this anecdote was written is uncertain.
Help us reach 25,000 petition signatures: House progressives need to keep the pledge for a strong public option. |
Click to Join the Fight for a Real Public Option
Dear FRIEND,
After two months of your hard work, 65 members House drew a line in the sand: no public option, no health care reform. You responded by raising more than $175,000 for those members in less than 48 hours.
It's a great start, but it's just the beginning. We need to make sure these 65 members hold firm. We've shown them we have their backs. Now they need to get ours.
I'm starting a petition to the House to keep their pledge to support only a public option in both the House bill AND the conference bill.
I'm going to be in DC next month. If we can reach 25,000 signatures, Jane Hamsher and I will be there to hand-deliver the petition to the House when they return to take up health care.
Members of the House who took this pledge will be under insane pressure from Rahm Emanuel and the rest of the Obama Administration to cave for an insurance industry bailout.
Rahm's plan all along has been to trade away the public option. But Rahm didn't count on you. Now that we've shown progressives in the House it's possible to stick together, it will be our job to make sure these members hold the line on a strong public option.
Let's be clear: these members need to hold the line on two votes. Once when the House passes its own bill, and again on the conference bill that's combined with the Senate's version. Anything less is a vote for an insurance industry bailout.
Help us reach 25,000 signatures on our petition to House progressives. You can make sure that progressives keep the pledge to only vote for a strong public option.
Click here to add your name to our petition: http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/keepthepledge
Thanks so much for your help. I hope we can get to 25,000 signatures so I can deliver the petition with Jane next month.
Best,
Eve Gittelson (nyceve)
President Obama needs to hear from us about the public option. If we don't make a stand now for a public option, the Obama administration may hedge on its plan for health care reform. This weekend, the Obama administration indicated that it might be open to passing health care reform without any provision for a public insurance option similar to Medicare that could compete with private insurance companies. President Obama said that a public option was just a "sliver" of his plan and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius went so far as to say that the public option was not an "essential" part of reform. The comments this weekend by the president and Secretary Sebelius rhetorically pave the way for the Obama administration to cave on a meaningful public option and instead accept toothless regional health care co-ops that would be unable to compete with insurance companies and keep them honest. Help us remind President Obama that part of the reason he won the presidency was his plan to enact major health care reform that included a public option, a provision that 76% of Americans support. Thank you for working to secure real health care reform. Matt Lockshin, Campaign Manager |
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