When watching a fight with my dad, he would always tell the joke about the embattled fighter who fell exhausted on his corner stool after absorbing several rounds of punishing blows where his trainer tells him, “You’re doing great champ, he ain't laying a glove on you.” Then the bewildered and badly beaten fighter would muster enough energy to speak and say, “Keep an eye on the ref, somebody in the ring is beating the hell out of me.”
Looking past the humor of the story, an objective person might find the trainer to be grossly incompetent or even somewhat delusional. Sure it may seem like he’s trying to encourage his fighter, but who knows better what’s happening inside the ring than the one either doling out the punishment or the one receiving it. In spite of his fighter’s situation, the trainer was determined to continue the fight with no clear strategy to win or regard for his fighter’s safety.
Conversely, an experienced boxing trainer knows that the best information to give his fighter between rounds are specific instructions on how to keep up their defense, advance a successful attack and ultimately win the fight.
In the midst of the worst economy since the great depression, President Obama is managing this economy more like the incompetent boxing trainer in the joke, than an experienced trainer. With no real strategy being employed and none of his policies working, President Obama has reverted to telling Americans that his policies are working, that the recession is over and everything is going to be fine.
Whether it’s total incompetence or just plain delusion, after almost ten months of being in America’s corner, President Obama’s policies and the current economic circumstances demonstrate that he’s obviously either one or the other -- or both.
Unfortunately, it’s round ten in a twelve round title bout and the message to America from its trainer has been ringing hollow for the last several rounds; “You’re doing great champ, he aint laying a glove on you.”
Is America headed for defeat? Will America soon lose its championship title?
The answer may depend on whether Americans finally realize that the man in their corner is not incompetent or even delusional, but actually in the midst of doing something that helped give a permanent black eye to the sport of boxing.
Could President Obama be on the verge of doing the unthinkable? Is the “fix in” for America?
