"The art of war consists in a circumspect and well reasoned defense, followed by audacious attack."

Audacity.

Dare we hope for some?

You can't let the blows distract you and make you react. One must endure and then act. Act, do not react. Plan your action and make it yours. Do not just react to theirs.

I do the Ali: "Float like a butterfly, then sting like a bee."

It's like the rope-a-dope. You float with the punches and when you are ready to act, make it a real stinger. It first has your target reacting to your float and it gets them flailing about trying to catch the butterfly moves. Then, when it is time, they are stung. Sometimes they never know what hit them because you are off floating like the butterfly.

Ali was not waiting for Foreman to punch himself in the face.

Thank you!

Just sayin'.

Or what it meant in a boxing context. Thanks for the edu-moment.

However, I wish I was sure I could tell when Obama starts swinging, because I haven't seen many roundhouses coming from him yet.

And the ropes he was leaning on got messed up in 2010. Still not fixed back yet.

And he has taken some hard hits but he is still smiling. It's like Ali's: float like a butterfly, then sting like a bee.

Health care act, recovery act, wars winding down. And he got re-elected! He's still fighting. But yeah, patience is getting worn thin.

People often see what they want to see, and dismiss any data that doesn't conform to their chosen reality. There have been several excuses offered for why this or that action by the Obama Administration is not in fact what it appears to be, and they've all been sadly transparent pieces of self-deception.

...success

But I'm sure he will come out fighting once there's no chance of accomplishing anything and campaign season is in full swing.

Just learned something.

Politics aside, here a sports question to those who have some experience in boxing:

Isn't this tactic when used in actual boxing matches (not politics) technically cheating? It would seem that leaning against the rope is a form of hiding, with making it easier to absorb hits and all. So Ali was the first to discover it, but wouldn't it be something that would eventually become banned once people figured out what it does.

I don't think it is cheating even non-technicaly.

Of course both camps have the right to decide how slack or tight the ropes are -in addition to agreeing on the size of the ring.

Furthermore, it is no panacea. Ali had developed incredible stomach muscles to take all those body punches and he was a genius at covering his face and rolling with punches. Not everyone could do it even if they wanted. He was a special fighter.

I am not knowledgeable about boxing. Thanks for clarifying it for me.

I wasn't offended for a micro-second.

it is a very poor analogy to governing in a democracy. The better comparison is obviously the actual election contest, where it is winner take all. So if this is the strategy that the President used, he did win re-election, so it did work for him.
The real questions are; Did President Obama concede too much to the RW before even beginning
negotiations? Did this result in larger concessions than some of us feel were necessary? Does the President actually support some of the concessions which he made? What, if anything, can we do to make these compromises come out better?
I don't know the answers to any of these questions, but I do know that Rope-A-Dope is not a strategy for governing.

were illegal. Rope-a-dope was not legal. You couldnt use the ropes. But he got away with it. He hit and grabbed. Any other fighter would have been warned for that. But not him.

Also, your last picture is of Ali and Sonny Liston.

that it is Liston. But it is a great photo!

As for it being illegal, that is debatable...also since this is a political commentary (read metaphor), it really is irrelevant.