Does this remind you of tonight?
During the bout, Ali employed an unexpected strategy. Leading up to the fight, he had declared he was going to "dance" and use his speed to keep away from Foreman and outbox him. However, in the first round, Ali headed straight for the champion and began scoring with a right hand lead, clearly surprising Foreman. Ali caught Foreman nine times in the first round with this technique but failed to knock him out. He then decided to take advantage of the young champion's weakness: staying power. Foreman had won 37 of his 40 bouts by knockout, mostly within three rounds. Eight of his previous bouts didn't go past the second round. Ali saw an opportunity to outlast Foreman, and capitalized on it."
Jump...
Wow. What a fight we have witnessed this evening. With a strong Obama lead heading in to this debate, he had little need to make risky comments and openly attack McCain, he just needed to draw him out. Absorb his punches, tire him out.
Look at McCain's anger this evening. He couldn't believe the the gall of this "boy" standing up to him and looking him in the eye. Which Obama did, over and over. Obama stood on stage, talking down McCain's lies and BS. Taking each hit in stride, and looking presidential.
Obama never needed a knockout to win. He didn't even need a tie. Just showing that McCain did not carry a commanding lead in Foreign Affairs was damaging to McCain, and Obama exceeded that goal. He more than showed that he was at a minimum an equal to McCain, and that the differences between them depended on what the goals of the viewer were.
Obama invoked what I like to call Eric's Rule:
If you think things have been great the past 8 years and want 4 more
just like them, there is really no point in discussing this election.
-Eric
That was it. once McCain was tired of his rhetorical hits, Obama came pounding back with this again and again. and these blows will stick. More Ali:
In the second round, the challenger retreated to the ropes - inviting Foreman to hit him, while counterpunching and verbally taunting the younger man. Ali's plan was to enrage Foreman and absorb his best blows to exhaust him mentally and physically. While Foreman threw wide shots to Ali's body, Ali countered with stinging straight punches to Foreman's head. Foreman threw hundreds of punches in seven rounds, but with decreasing technique and potency. Ali's tactic of leaning on the ropes, covering up, and absorbing ineffective body shots was later termed "The Rope-A-Dope.
Yes, he hit him on his taxes, his support of the war, his "Bomb Iran" song, and McCain just got angrier and angrier. Supporting quick decision to war. Greeted as liberators. McCain mispronounced names and flubbed on our relationships with allies. Calling a lie a lie. correcting his numbers. But more than anything Obama tied McCain to the last eight years, and made McCain represent four more. Staying in Iraq. Endless War. 90% Bush Support. Calling out the lies, again.
McCain had no business calling for change or even discussing it, because he neither represented nor even wanted it. He just wanted to win.
McCain hit Obama with his hardest blows, but with decreasing technique and potency.
Obama is just coming off the ropes...