Mohammad Ali introduced boxing fans to his controversial rope a dope strategy against the heavily favored George Foreman during their 1974 championship fight – The Rumble in the Jungle – in Kinshasa, Zaire. Ali leaned back against the ring ropes and let George Forman hit him repeatedly for six long rounds and then as Forman tired in the heat and humidity of that African morning, Ali took charge in the eighth round and nailed the desperately swinging, exhausted Forman with four punishing blows that sent Forman to the canvass for a 10 count. Ali showed the world that he could handle the strongest fighters by taking their best shots, tiring the opponent and then landing the winning blows.
Why do I mention Ali’s “rope a dope” in an article titled “Hope a dope”? For the past few months I have seen similarities between Ali’s rope a dope boxing strategy and what I call Obama’s hope a dope plan. President Obama, once the agent of hope and change, seems to be taking shots from his once fervent supporters over issues such as healthcare reform, the banking and auto bailout, the stimulus binge, a comprehensive jobs bill, his war strategy, and deficit spending to name but a few. Is he taking those punches from his supporters to tire them and remove their fight?
Obama ran his campaign on the premise of bringing hope back to the masses and changing the political tenor in Washing D.C. His message of hope and change seem to be fading from his supporters, who continue to see the same games played with the same people benefitting.
Obama’s hope a dope goes like this: Let’s start with healthcare; a majority of Americans and a large majority of Obama supporters want single payer healthcare. According to 16 separate polls taken from October 2003 to July 2009 between 49 – 75% of those polled would want to have a single payer healthcare system. One poll from Time magazine in July 2009 was the only poll where less than 50% favored single payer, but the 49% who approved of single payer was higher than the 46% who opposed it. What has Obama done with all these poll numbers that indicate Americans want single payer? He has tried to get Olympia Snowe (R-ME) to go along with a watered-down plan that insures some, taxes all and is a winner for the healthcare insurers. Hope a dope wins this round as Obama’s taken the best punches from the American people who want single payer and has worked closely with the healthcare CEOs to make sure it never happens.
How about the banking bailout?
While the Obama Administration is pledging up to $2.5 trillion in support for the troubled U.S. financial system, 56% of Americans oppose giving bankers any additional government money or any guarantees backed by the government.
via 56% Oppose Any More Government Help For Banks – Rasmussen Reports™.
July 20 (Bloomberg) — U.S. taxpayers may be on the hook for as much as $23.7 trillion to bolster the economy and bail out financial companies, said Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.
via U.S. Rescue May Reach $23.7 Trillion, Barofsky Says (Update3) – Bloomberg.com.
Obama and the Fed bailed-out the banks to the tune of almost $24 trillion, yes, trillion.
On the other hand, unemployment is now 9.7% (17.5% if you include underemployed and discouraged workers).
The banking hope a dope goes to Obama again. The people are getting frustrated, but they are hanging in there to try and get some justice. Maybe the people can win the next round.
Let’s take a look at the auto bailout.
Americans Continue to Oppose GM, Chrysler Loans
Fifty-nine percent disapprove of the loans the government has made
via Americans Continue to Oppose GM, Chrysler Loans .
Again, the American people are fighting back against corruption, mismanagement and greed, but what did they gain? Not much. Chrysler and GM have laid-off tens of thousands, shuttered plants and moved manufacturing operations to China and Mexico. Another round goes to hope a dope.
A September 25 poll by the New York Times showed a majority, 32%, favored withdrawing troops from Afghanistan as compared to those who favored an increase in troops 29%. Need I say more? Hope a dope grabs another round.
And the latest hope a dope is the proposed February 2010 jobs bill that started out at $100 billion and was reduced by $85 billion in the senate to a paltry $15 billion. This shows a president who is losing control of the argument because he has neglected to live up to his campaign’s mantra of hope and change.
Although only 37 percent rate the President’s efforts to reduce the budget deficit as excellent or good, 71 percent saying reducing unemployment is more important. And voters favor 72 – 22 percent Obama’s $100 billion dollar package of tax cuts for small business and government spending to increase employment.
The latest poll from the New York Times/CBS News shows that hope a dope may be losing its effectiveness as Obama’s approval ratings have fallen from 68% in April 2009 to 46% in February 2010.
Obama Approval Rating
I was hoping - there’s that word again – that Obama was an honest broker who wanted to change the normal routine of giving the connected more power at the expense of the average voter, but I knew that it was a long shot at best. I didn’t vote for Obama, or McCain for that matter, since I’ve been hope a doped so often that I can no longer support major party candidates for president. It’s a pathetic state of affairs when the people are continually smacked around by hope a dope; but where else do they have to turn? Until we all realize that the current two-party system favors the lobbyists, the connected and the special interests, hope a dope will be all we deserve.
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of hearing; Winner by a knockout, hope a dope…………………..
In a previous article I wrote about Goldman Sachs’ CEO Lloyd Blankfein’s delusional relationship with God in Blankfein – “doing God’s work” or doing gods work? The sordid tale of how Goldman and its henchmen keep pillaging the taxpayer and infesting government with cronies continues in the following PBS videos from the News Hour: First segment, second segment:
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