Acting White: Rope-A-Dope

I watched the Hillary vs. Barack debate, in Philly, last night and two things came to mind as they squared off. The first was how we voters get sucked into thinking that the goal is to figure out the candidates and what they will likely do in office. WRONG! The second was how the debate reprised the Ali/Foreman ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ prizefight, whereby Hillary, with the help of the moderators, pounded Barack as he leaned back on the ropes. Only the election will tell if Barack’s ‘rope-a-dope’ tactic resulted in Hillary punching herself into submission, or if Barack is now permanently injured and should retire.

Each candidate is constantly tweaking their words to grab a few more share points of whatever voting block their pollsters are lusting for. The trick is to turn the right phrase or word, while avoiding the wrong phrase or word, - bitter is OK but cling is not - and never, ever, say anything where its specific meaning or context is clear. If you are lucky, your opponent will find no serial killers or registered sex offenders amongst your classmates from the first grade, else you be ‘hoisted without hesitation’.

I cannot argue with Barack’s rope-a-dope approach. Any winning swipe he takes at the Dragon Lady is surely going to end up in the headlines as, “Angry Black man slaps the hell out of poor little pugnacious White women – ending his bid for high office”. The best he can hope for is that the audience is so secretly embarrassed by this contrived ‘contest’ that they vow to regain their dignity at any cost. He cannot beat her, he has to let her lose on her own.

And one last parting shot, regardless of whether one wears a 24/7 flag pin or holds hands with the Mrs. in public, it don’t mean a thing. It’s all about what people think you are doing when no one is watching – and 'Billary' knows this like Oscar Mayer knows hotdogs.

James C. Collier

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