I can't help but feel as though we watching a replay of the GE

[Proud Liberal Dem]

For the past 2-3 weeks, Obama and, more specifically, his stimulus plan, has been getting pilloried by the corporate (whore) media and the GOP and it would seem that Obama and the Dems in Congress have been largely silent (or silenced) yet now all of the sudden Obama has started a massive push for the plan, the Dems in Congress seem to be getting fired up, Obama's approval ratings are remaining steady at healthy levels, and the plan actually seems to be favored by 54-64% of the public. Did Obama perform another "rope-a-dope" on the GOP like he did in the GE by letting the GOP exhaust their energy (and capital) complaining about and attempting to obstruct the plan all the while trying to appear "above the fray" and/or actively seeking bipartisan support for the plan (knowing, however, that he was unlikely to win many of them over)?

*Or*

Are he and the Dems in Congress just starting to "get their act together" after what would seem to be a "disastrous" 2-3 weeks (at least based on how the corporate whore media has been attempting to frame it) of fighting the Republicans and watering down the plan to accommodate their concerns?

I can't help but think that perhaps were seeing his good ol' tried and true "rope-a-dope" strategy coming into view starting with his recent speeches and public events.

What does everybody else think? :shrug:

[FrenchieCat]

1. Some of us felt that this was the strategy all along! the Rope-a-Dope

Let the Republicans vent and make themselves look partisan complainers with only criticism and no real solutions to offer, and then "BAM".....Counterpunch is applied!

I think the Dems were waiting for those humongous January Job loss figures....cause it is right after those figures were announced that our President came out with his counterpunch!

[hvn_nbr_2]

8. I'm starting to think this may be the new improved Rope-a-Dope version 2

In the original Ali version, you let them punch until they wear themselves out and then you BAM them with one punch.

In version 2, you let them punch and punch and punch until, fanatics that they are, they start swinging wildly, as we've been seeing them start to do. Eventually they keep swinging wildly until they land a few good ones on themselves and knock themselves out. Keeps your own hands cleaner that way.

[alsame]

2. I think he knows what he's doing. There were times during

the primary and the GE that I was frustrated and, yes, concerned that he wasn't reacting quickly or strongly enough.

But he won by a landslide - he beat the Clintons and the GOP machine.

I'm not going to second guess the team any more - they are the pros and they seem to have their fingers on the pulse of this nation like nothing I've ever seen before.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. I'm going with the former.

We've seen too much evidence of Obama doing this in the past to write it off as being accidental. This is clearly an effective strategy of his. Republicans also have a tendency to fight each other for the right to leap directly onto the land mine.

[Cha]

7. Can anyone even fathom the depth

of their depraved fatuouness?

[damonm]

4. What I thought, and still think...

is here, from a post I made 8 days ago:

"Obama is playing a long-term game. He has seen the strong tendency to shortsightedness in the Republican party (witness the 22nd Amendment - which they passed, and then wanted to repeal so Raygun could run again; witness also their talk of "The Nuclear Option" to eliminate the filibuster, and their excoriation of the "Gang of 14" who put a stop to it - aren't they glad NOW that they didn't get their way?), and is using it to his advantage to secure long-term gains for Democrats in Washington. Unlike the Rethugs and their open talk of a "Permanent Republican Majority", Obama is more subtle and crafty.

This is chess, people, and Obama's playing well enough to put Vishwanathan Anand (current World Chess Champ) to shame. Every time he reaches out, the Rethugs MUST retreat into an unreasonable position or risk being seen as weak by their shrinking base.
He has them in a bind of their own making, where every move they make weakens them further with the larger electorate. If this continues, the Democrats will have a deathgrip on the Government for YEARS.
Or to be more musical about it, Obama's playing the GOP like Jimi Hendrix on a Fender Stratocaster.

Bear in mind that Obama cut his political teeth in Chicago - if you think for ONE SECOND he hasn't
got a plan, you are understimating the man at your peril."

[FrenchieCat]

5. Very insightful, and said better than what I said at the time,

although my conclusion then was the same as yours.

Folks were responding by saying he was naive and it wasn't about playing chess.....etc....

But Bob Herbert wrote this yesterday after the Press Conference....

The Chess Master
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/opinion/10herbert.html

[damonm]

6. Well, Frenchie...

You and I are just smarter than most, I guess.
:rofl:

[Cha]

12. That was a brilliant wrapup by

Bob Herbert, thank you, Frenchie.

"There is always a tendency to underestimate Barack Obama. We are inclined in the news media to hyperventilate over every political or policy setback, no matter how silly or insignificant, while Mr. Obama has shown again and again that he takes a longer view."

[zulchzulu]

9. The Do Nothing Party is aiming at trying to get back DC in 2010

The GOP has been planning on this since last spring. Trust them at your peril.

[damonm]

10. Good effing luck...

the way Obama's playing them like Hendrix on a strat?
They'll be lucky not to lose 3-5 more seats in the Senate.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

11. diapers or not?

if the didn't have the media they would be nothing and the greens would be in opposition

[pipi_k]

13. yep, replay of the GE

how else did a relatively unknown...African American...very young man seem to defy all odds and get elected, except to be waaaaay smarter than the people who underestimated him....


I'm definitely going for the rope-a-dope thing


:)

[damonm]

14. As I keep telling my wife...

...we voted for the smartest motherf***er in the room.

[genna]

16. How else indeed...

He had to be safe...
non-threatening...
crafty...
head strong...
all heart...

in order to do what all of us thought was impossible.

Evidently, he will bring that same slight of hand to D.C. with him.

I also think people who publicly call him OUT do so at their peril. I think bad news or criticism needs to come directly AND personally. Frontin', at least that is what it used to be called, will earn scorn and derision.

If Republicans want to have a future, they need to learn how to talk to him so he embraces what they are saying to him. I also believe that those of us who are more left than he is need to learn how to work the inside game too. He doesn't do calling him out.

If he fights for those education parts the Senate cut out and wins, then the House Democrats and those who want to push him on election reform/Bush crimes/torture & human rights need to pay attention.

[Tyler Generation]

15. Teflon Obam

He is a genius politician, no doubt. Thankfully he is one of the good guys.

[Occam Bandage]

17. This is going to happen over and over again.

Obama proposes something. He acts deliberately and slowly. He offers tactical retreats, and turns the other cheek from time to time. Everyone screams that he's doing it wrong. They try to push and pull him. He remains unflappable. He bides his time. Then he wins, and his critics go silent for a few days, perhaps whimpering that their way could have done it a bit better.

Then he proposes something else, and we do it again.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

18. And yet many of us keep forgetting about it

I can't say that I haven't doubted him or felt frustrated with how he's handling things from time to time- from the GE to the present- but I think it's because we all get influenced by the omnipresent influence of corporate whore media that spouts nothing but lies and propaganda against him and the Democratic Party in general- which, invariably, leads to the rest of us feeling dispirited and discouraged. Their presence seems so pervasive and powerful that after all a while it's hard for most people, including myself, to not be (negatively) affected by it one way or another and to feel like things are hopeless. All I can say is that I'm glad Obama is OURS!!!!

:applause:

At one point in my life I literally thought I was going out of mind after consuming so much corporate news (i.e. MSNBC, CNN) during the Clinton years however I later realized- after I stopped watching it so much- that it was the corporate media that was actually driving me bonkers. I also found DU as well around the same time.

[janx]

19. My take is the following:

The people who brought the GOP party to its knees, the far right, have been used to being in power for so long that the reality of the GE hasn't even hit them yet.