Cartoon 766: Rope-a-dope

I imagine President Obama has been biding his time and only sparing attacks. He has repeatedly cast himself as the vulnerable underdog. He probably is using a Mohamed Ali boxing strategy of “rope-a-dope”. The goal is to keep your guard up and let your opponent box themselves to death trying to take you out. Then when your opponent is exhausted, devastate them.

President Obama has not seriously impeded Republican actions at both the Federal and State levels. They seem to win in every confrontation. The intent is garner enough excesses in action on the part of Republicans to cause their repudiation by the public. So far the strategy has not generated the desired results. There has been no large public backlash. In fact the Republican excesses are growing more and more extreme. They are not being really challenged.

Without the public reaction the strategy is working against President Obama. People want him to get off the ropes and take the fight to the Republicans. They are looking for a champion to rally behind. They want a “Rocky Balboa”. Will President Obama “stay the course”? Abandoning the strategy means playing his opponents game. It also means playing to his weaknesses.

The best hope for a public backlash failed with the recall elections in Wisconsin. The public has become lethargic to Republican actions. The next epicenter of a backlash may be Florida. Another epicenter of Ohio is cooling. The Republicans are making moves to mitigate a backlash.

The Republicans are posed to control all three branches of government again, as they did in the previous decade. So far has just been a warm up on the Republican’s part… “you ain’t seen nothing yet”.