Rope-a-Dope

Sasha Abramsky, author of "Inside Obama's Brain," made this observation some six months ago:

Time and again when I was researching my book Inside Obama's Brain, friends, colleagues, and long-time observers of Barack Obama explained both his political tenaciousness and his strength as a counter-puncher.

One of the president's sporting heroes is the boxer Muhammad Ali, who specialized in drawing his opponents in, letting them gain in confidence, and enticing them to come in against him firing on all cylinders, at which point he would dance around them and unleash a devastating counter-attack. The rope-a-dope strategy allowed Ali to live up to his moniker: the Greatest.

For decades, this has been Obama's modus operandi. He goes the extra mile for bipartisanship, but when his opponents come after him, he shows his firmness, his ability to play hard when the chips are down.

Helps to explain the last two weeks, doesn't it? As the Roadrunner would put it, "meep-meep."