When Hillary Clinton was a teenager in the nineteen-sixties, a young black boxer named Cassius Clay was streaking undefeated towards the heavyweight crown. This young man later changed his name to Muhammad Ali, on his way to becoming the most popular international sports-figure in history. Next Monday (25th) will be the forty-fourth year anniversary of one of the greatest challenges Ali ever faced. It was the first title fight between the mean and surly champion named Sonny Liston and the charismatic Ali himself. It was the first of two meetings between these boxers. The Liston v. Clay saga is being re-played today folks; right before our very eyes; only the names have changed.
Muhammad Ali won on that unforgettable night in what turned out to be a rather controversial fight; stunning the boxing world by becoming the new champion, when Liston refused to come out of his corner for the seventh round. Liston complained that his right (or left) shoulder was hurting. Truth be told: he was catching an ass-whipping; and he quit (“no mas/no mas”).
Many boxing pundits refused to believe what their eyes saw; they suggested that something fishy was amiss. They suggested that the fight was fixed; they suggested the mafia was involved. This is where one of Ronald Reagan’s infamous and politically-incorrect jokes (about “ducks in cockfights”) emerged. The joke went like this: how do you tell the Polish person at the cockfight? Answer: he is the one who brings a duck. The joke continues: how do you tell that the mafia was involved in the cockfight? Answer: THE DUCK WINS THE FIGHT.
Reagan won the presidency after delivering that joke folks. Okay: so it wasn’t the only reason he won (in fact it may have had no bearing on the outcome of the race); but I am told that this joke was coined after the first Liston v. Clay title fight; and that was my only point for bringing it up/lol.
Anyway, the boxing pundits demanded a re-match and the boxing authorities agreed. The mandated re-match was originally set for that November, but Ali had to have an operation for hernia thus it was postponed until May 25th 1966. The whole boxing-world waited with bated breath. It soaked up the media oxygen just like this contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is doing today. It’s deja-vu all over again folks; it’s a Liston v. Clay redux.
With the bookies, Ali was a seven to one underdog in the second fight. You would profit seven dollars by betting one dollar on him to win. Liston was still a heavy favorite even after suffering that stunning defeat. This is just to show you how odds are skewed folks: when so-called experts see the truth but close their eyes. When so-called political-analysts cannot analyze well, many in the public are surprised when reality is exposed; same as in the world of boxing. A prize fighter and a politician are first cousins.
Every day in politics talking heads go on mainstream media and bullshit. Most times many regular people are fooled; that’s why bloggers are becoming so popular nowadays; many in the mainstream have lost their credibility. From the time Oprah Winfrey endorsed Barack Obama almost a year and a half ago, I have been covering this developing story. I told you all that this “bad boy” (Obama) was for real. Whether it was in my “Vines” columns, or in any other of the many columns I did – which dealt directly with the presidential primaries- I have called both sides of the coin (Republican and Democratic), with a high degree of accuracy. I told you that we are being Oprahcized; she was the wind beneath Obama’s wings. People still doubt this; they shouldn’t but they still do.
Today, as we watch the presidential primaries unfold on the Democrats, the role of the young Cassius Clay (aka: Muhammad Ali) is being played out by Barack Obama. The role of the fading champ Sonny Liston is being played out by Hillary Clinton: the former first-lady of the USA (1993-2000).
Many political pundits are still refusing to believe what their eyes are seeing; and as such they are refusing to count Hillary out, even after she has been flattened by Obama’s phenomenal left and right movement. This is why Bill Clinton (Hillary’s manager/trainer) needs to watch the tapes of the second Clay v. Liston fight; but I will get to that a little later in this column.
Last night Obama won again. His magic broom swept to another (two primaries and one caucus) round of victories. Remember when I told you guys that the Billary Clintons will meet their Waterloo on Super Tuesday: well Waterloo has come and gone folks. I also told you that many won’t even recognize that it had come and left (especially the Clintonistas); well that sure turned out to be true didn’t it? Go to my archives and view the columns yourself; don’t just take my word for it.
What the talking heads of mainstream media won’t tell you is that Barack Obama has now won a dozen contests in a row since Super Tuesday (not ten). What they won’t tell you also is something I told you long ago: stick a fork in Hillary. She is done; she is cooked; she is finished. Do you still doubt this now?
If Hillary Clinton had won a dozen straight contests, the media would have been doing a post-mortem on Obama’s dead carcass since last year; but then, they did do that, didn’t they? They never gave him a chance last year, and they still refuse now to read Hillary her last rites. They keep talking about Ohio, and Texas, and Pennsylvania, and Vermont, and Mississippi, and North Carolina, and Wyoming, and all those primaries and caucuses still to come; including one in Rhode Island, and another on the island of Puerto Rico. They could as well be talking about Fantasy Island; since they must be seeing the same plane that the late “Tattoo” saw there. It must be the plane boss; it must be the plane that’s coming: get out the girls with their hulas and grass skirts; awaken the members of the welcoming committee; we’ve got work to do; the show must go on.
Look, even if Hillary won the most votes in the “big three” states that her campaign has targeted, I have already told you that Obama will get to the convention with the most raw votes, most pledged delegates, most caucuses won and most primary states won. Hillary doesn’t have a leg to stand on, so now she makes a grab for the delegates from Michigan and Florida; after agreeing last year that the DNC should punish both of those states for moving up their primary dates. What a way to start your second stint at the presidency: unethically.
Over the weekend a friend of mine called to say that he has finally come around to agreeing with me that Obama will win the democrat’s nomination. He told me that the English bookmakers are now giving one to six on such a proposition. This means that you have to wager six pounds on Obama being the nominee, to profit one. WOW! What a turnaround.
When he asked me for my prediction (2/19), I told him that Obama’s magic broom will continue sweeping (Washington, Wisconsin and Hawaii) as I had said before. I told him that I am hard pressed to see another state that Hillary will win anytime soon. My sources are telling me that she will not win Ohio (no matter what the polls say). Personally, I don’t even think she will win Texas. And as I said before: even if she wins Texas, Barack Obama will leave there with a large number of delegates -given the Texas formula (see my last article on this).
What the weekend revealed to me was the fact that Bill Clinton needs to roll out the video tape of the second Liston v. Clay fight. You see, in boxing, the fighters are at times incapable of making the best decisions for themselves -especially during the heat of the fight. This is when the people in the corner (manager, trainer, cut-man and other handlers) throw the towel into the ring, to signal to the referee and judges: stop the fight (my fighter is taking too much punishment). It happens in cock-fights. It also happens in dog-fights. Sometimes if you don’t throw in the towel, your dog, cock or boxer/fighter may get killed. This is serious stuff folks.
The time has come for the Billary team to ask themselves a few hard questions: do we go on like this? Do we continue taking these ass-whippings like nobody’s business? Or do we get out now for the good of the political party? It is a serious decision to be made folks, and the time is nigh.
Limping on to the convention and trying to fight for super-delegates, or trying to change the mind of pledged delegates, or trying to obtain disqualified delegates through chicanery, is not a strategy for party-harmony. It is a recipe for disaster come November. Bill Clinton is a very intelligent man, he must know this; especially since the most loyal constituents of the Democrats in recent times, has been: blacks. All this must be weighing heavily on his mind because he is aging in dog years (how ironic). Have you seen him lately?
Look, we all age; it’s inevitable; but geeze: not as rapidly as he has. This primary has cost Billary many years off their lives; it has become extraordinarily stressful for both of them. It is becoming more painful by the minute. And the more reality seeps in, the more painful it will become: it’s akin to the Japanese water torture of World War 2. It is time for them to do the right thing: get out of this race. Save us all the pains.
Since Super Tuesday was their “Waterloo”, then March 4th will be their “Liston v. Clay” 2. The first fight is over but they don’t want to believe the result. This second fight doesn’t even matter anymore; the result is already in.
Bill and Hillary Clinton are becoming the Huckabees of the Democratic Party. For the sake of unity, the Republicans will eventually forgive Governor Mike Huckabee. But will the democrats forgive Bill and Hillary Clinton; especially if the party goes down in defeat this November- because of Billary’s shenanigans? I don’t think so. I think such a scenario will move many blacks to places hitherto fore unknown politically; but that’s another column.
Let me tell you exactly what Bill Clinton needs to see in those videotapes of which I am referring: the very first round of the second fight between Liston and Ali. In that round, Sonny walked into a chopping right that was so quick (and quiet) that many boxing experts still call it to this day: the “phantom punch”. Liston didn’t even know when the canvas came up to meet his black behind. He was on his back in a flash, lying there: stunned. He never saw it coming. He never knew what hit him. As he lay on his butt you could see his face contort; who does that remind you of today (especially during the debates)? I will give you a hint: her first name is Hillary, and her last name is Clinton. It is a pained look; a dazed look. It’s a look of a smile that is forced.
The look on Sonny Liston’s face then – as he lay on his back that night- is the same look on Hillary’s face nowadays. Just as he didn’t know what hit him then, she still doesn’t know what has been hitting her since Iowa. She is still trying to catch the number of the moving vehicle; Barack has done a drive-by with enlargened license plates, but she still can’t see it. He continues to drive by every caucus and/or primary day or night. He is racking up victims like no mainstream political pundit ever imagined. He is terrorizing Hillary like a jihadist in a Baghdad market; she needs a surge but there is no money for soldiers.
On that fateful night in 1966, Ali stood over the fallen Liston and dared him to get up; the referee had to come and pull him away to a neutral corner. When the referee returned to the fallen boxer, he then started the count anew; this was wrong: the referee should have picked up the count from the timekeeper. This allowed Liston to spend close to twenty seconds on his back; and most of us know that you have a ten second count to get back on your feet: or you are knocked out.
Given the new count, Liston jumped up and started throwing punches at Ali again. He was flailing away like a drowning man grasping for straws. The point is this: he had already been knocked out; he just didn’t know it.
Eventually the timekeeper got the referee’s attention and informed him that Liston was done; finished; tagged. The ref mercifully intervened to stop the fight. Sonny Liston never found himself again after that. He went on to live out an already sorry life even further, and he died tragically a few years later. There were issues with violence, drugs and alcohol. There were issues with self-esteem.
You see, after Liston got back on his feet and flailed away at his opponent, the young Ali got on his bicycle and pedaled backwards. On his tip-toes he continued to “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee”; he kept whipping Liston’s ass with an array of hooks, short crosses, jabs and uppercuts. He exposed some of the many moves still left in his repertoire, and displayed some of the many punches still left in his lethal arsenal. Bill Clinton needs to remember that when he watches the tape. You see folks: this whipping that Obama is putting on Billary will only get worse if they keep trying to fight back. Bill Clinton needs to throw in the towel: NOW. He needs to remember what the old-timers told him: “that s/he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day”.
Stay tuned-in folks. The finish line for this (the first) race is in sight.