Is Obama a fan of boxing?

[Blondiegrrl]

I keep hearing the term "rope-a-dope" in association with Obama's campaign strategy, and being clueless about boxing terms, I finally looked it up:

Rope-a-dope is a boxing fighting style used most famously by Muhammad Ali (who coined the term) in the Rumble in the Jungle against George Foreman.

The rope-a-dope is performed by a boxer assuming a protected stance, in Ali's classic pose, lying against the ropes, and allowing their opponent to hit them in the hope that the opponent will become tired and make mistakes which the boxer can exploit in a counter attack.

Rope-a-dope is also commonly used to describe strategies in areas other than boxing, where one party purposely puts itself in what appears to be a losing position, and then becomes the eventual victor.

McCain got a Palin bounce in the polls, largely due to the fact that Palin is "fresh" and "new," blah, blah, blah, and most voters knew nothing about her beyond the fact that she's a hockey mom. But now as more stories surface about Palin's crappy and deceitful leadership, the media is beginning to question her. McCain, probably noticing that his "bounce" is starting to settle back down, this past week began lobbing everything but the kitchen sink at Obama, with the "lipstick on a pig" accusation being the most shrill and ridiculous one yet. Obama held his ground and refused to apologize, but he didn't make an issue of it either. He let McCain pummel him until Gramps started to tire out, and at last the clueless media began to catch on. They questioned themselves (it's about damned time) for falling for such silly distractions, and then they began to pound McCain relentlessly.

Obama, in the meantime, has been letting the media do the eviscerating while he sticks to the REAL issues and continues his campaigning in the swing states.

Will Obama come out swinging next week, while Gramps is still trying to figure out how to deflect the negative press? Obama is a very intelligent man, a brilliant strategist, and a shrewd politician. Something tells me he's got a plan.



BTW ... the Rumble in the Jungle was before my time, but I met Ali at an amateur boxing tournament back in the 80s. No boxer will ever match the style and grace of "The Greatest."

[BlooInBloo]

1. I don't know, but it should be noted that for a person to be a huge fan of Ali....

in no way requires them to be a boxing fan.

[Blondiegrrl]

3. Good point. Ali is an icon. n/t

[madaboutharry]

2. What a great picture.

n/t

[Mopar151]

4. Especially when you know about Sonny Liston n/t

[On the Road]

5. If You Ever Have a Chance to See a Replay of That Fight

or even the abbreviated version in the documentary "When We Were Kings", it's astonishing.

It's not out of the question that the fight is part of Obama's thinking.

And if he is a boxing fan, it might be a good idea politically for Obama to start dropping references in his speeches. It would win some support among men and masculanize his image.

[gblady]

6. I don't know for sure...

but here he is backstage...

[knixphan]

7. Ali waited till the last round to unleash on Foreman.

Trust.

[Samantha]

8. Barack Obama is the Muhammad Ali of the political world

Several people who participated in this thread agreed:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6005693

Sam