The more I observe all of this, the clearer it becomes that Hillary is using a fascinating combination of swinging from both the left and the right.

Her left-wing strategy is based on the quintessentially Baby Boomer ethos of “entitlement.” She’s playing a heavy “gender card” and wants to be seen as being a victim of the “boy’s club,” which she claims is trying to force her from the race and is giving her unfair press coverage. In some ways this may appear to be 60’s style leftist politics, as it is based on the politics of identity.

But then there is the reactionary side of her campaign. She not-so-subtlety appeals to white workingclass resentment of blacks who are moving ahead (must be “affirmative action” don’t you know) and suspicions of “them there foreigners” with “funny sounding” last names.

The only commonality between these two strategies, designed to appeal to the political left and the political right, is that they are both based on resentment.

In contrast, Obama continues to run a positive campaign based on healing social wounds and bringing people together for a higher purpose. The contrast between the emotions that drive the two campaigns couldn’t be more striking.

This is only more ridiculous considering Obama had the Rocky motif during Iowa's Jefferson-Jackson dinner.  The whole week before the Iowa caucus, the BO campaign was making Rocky references.  Four months later, HRC is down to an infinitely worse position than BO ever was.  She has to pray to the "Rocky" gods.

So if Hillary loses this election, will she come back for five more sequels?  Good lord!

Paulie Walnuts you mean?

The Hillary-Obama match is beginning to remind me of a different boxing match: Liston vs. Ali (then Cassius Clay) in 1964.

Back then the lumbering Liston was the great-white-hope to stop the elegant, gifted Ali.

Using either analogy, Senator Clinton doesn't come out well.

I understand the metaphor as far as Hillary is Rocky and Obama is Apollo. But who then is Mr. T, and doesn't Hillary realize that by staying in the race, she is increasing the odds that Ivan Drago (McCain) will murder Apollo in the ring?

"Hillary is using a fascinating combination of swinging from both the left and the right."

Indeed. It's also called "flailing."

(Hmm ... drop the first L from that word.)

"If it wasn't for the boys club, those bullies, I coulda been a contenduh."

P.S.  Man, it would have been funnier if she had used “Eye of the Tiger” as her theme song.  I actually saw Survivor in concert once – at Ft. Leonard Wood!  Opening for Ted Nugent!  The Nuge actually made a few Hillary jokes.

As I said on another thread, Hillary is the Ivan Drago of the Rocky universe.

It's a smart, Philly-friendly comparison.  And if she first takes on the role of Philly's favorite son, anyone else who compares himself to Rocky while in PA will be seen as a copycat.  Astute!

But that was just because Rocky was sleep deprived!

I guess this means Hillary is in the corner begging "Cut me, Mick."

Obama compared himself to Rocky way back months ago, when Hillary was still the incumbent.

Depends on which Rocky.  Rocky kicks Apollo's ass in Rocky II.  So much for your "analogy" Chotiner.

scottlooper, please. a 30 year old movie that has gone past being a cliche 20 years ago is astute? Everywhere the first thing I read was that Rocky lost and to a black man. The music is terribly dated, and in no way can anybody reasonably view a frumpy middle aged woman being comparable to a heavy weight no name fighter. Be honest, don't you cringe a little bit when you hear that music now? First Celine Dion, and now this?

I also take it you are not from Pa. and certainly not Philly. Far better to play the Clash's "Rock the Casbah" and put on a flyers mask, paying tribute to the broad street bullies.

jwl, no you are wrong, they both practically knock each other out at the end of that one too in what had to be one of the stupidest endings of any boxing movie match I have ever seen. So much for your "rebuttal" jwl.

You know, Stallone endorsed McCain.

I don't feel the need to make the obvious comment.

Rocky Rodham.

I'm surprised that everyone's just chuckling at this story, as if Clinton casting Obama as the cocky black Adonis due to be taken down several notches doesn't have heavy racial overtones. (Wait -- am I allowed to call "Apollo" "an Adonis?" An Adonis with Herculean strength?)

None of you seem to see who this stuff is really aimed at: the working-class white Pennsylvanians who have a deep resentment of blacks. The racists are all Clinton has left (along with a handful of bizarre old women); that's why she'll do so well in Kentucky and West Virginia.

And that's to say nothing of the absurdity of The Clinton Steamroller casting itself as the plucky upstart against a black first-term senator named Barack Hussein Obama. A few months ago, she was running as the incumbent! Wasn't Apollo the defending champion?

It's all as absurd as Ivan Drago styling himself as the plucky li'l comer.

PS, to Blackton: It's true that all of the boxing is pretty absurd in the Rocky series. For one thing, nobody blocks!

Among other movie heavies' comebacks: Michael Myers

Excuse me, wrong heavy. I meant Jason.

It makes perfect sense, Bela. As I remember the movie, Rocky was the far-and-away odds-on favorite, crushing all comers in his wake, planning to win the big fight in the second round and then, once the fight went longer, had no clue what to do.

Also, didn't he cry?

But Rocky's healthcare program was for shit. Get up at the ass crack of dawn, drink a few raw eggs, go chase a chicken, and fight three rounds with a side of beef.

And Hillary wants mandates? Screw that.

Sonny Liston wasn't a white guy.

  Yes, I see the analogy.  He gained notoriety by ascending the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  She was named after someone whom she knew would later gain notoriety by ascending Mount Everest.

"Let's go pound some meat" is my Philly friend's favorite phrase. Not because she likes to go three rounds with a side of beef but because it's just so damned fun to say.

And as the working class Eye-talians get pissed when the tusones park their beat up caddy's near the "social" club off 9th Street, Hillary will tell them how she'll keep 'those folks' at bay with her toughness as she shadow boxes on the stage.

Hungarian Great Bela Tarr  is right about that.

The target audience is white workingclass Pennsylvanians, who harbor a lot of racial fears and resentments. This is a continuation of the Ferraro offensive by other means. It is meant to stir the same emotions in the same audience.

Clinton poses as a leftist by claiming to champion the cause of women, although she does this with baby boomer tantrums and assumptions of entitlement; but then she also uses the standard right wing methods of appealing to fear, with red telephones ringing at 3 AM and calls for a president who will be "ready" to go to war.

I guess her Goldwater upbringing still lingers in her psyche and expresses itself in interesting ways when she is under pressure.

The amazing thing is how well the movie reflects Hillary's view of the campaign.  Consider:

Apollo Creed begins as the overwhelming favorite and backed by the boxing establishment.  He's challenged by a ridiculously over matched upstart (a bouncer?! w.t.f?!) who seems to running on hope alone.  Underestimating his rival, Apollo Creed gets knocked down in the first couple of rounds, but he fights back.  Unable to knock his opponent out of the match, he is eventually awarded the victory in any case by the judges.  Is it fair?  Who knows?  But Rocky isn't terribly upset.  He gets Adrian, which was all he really wanted setting out.

Change a name and a couple of pronouns and:

Hillary Clinton begins as the overwhelming favorite and backed by the political establishment.  She's challenged by a ridiculously over matched upstart (a community organizer?! w.t.f?!) who seems to running on hope alone.  Underestimating her rival, Hillary Clinton gets knocked down in the first couple of rounds, but she fights back.  Unable to knock her opponent out of the match, she is eventually awarded the victory in any case by the judges.  Is it fair?  Who knows?  But Barack isn't terribly upset.  He gets the vice-presidency, which was all he really wanted setting out.

Wiki's take: "Both fighters were beaten, bloodied, and bruised by the end of the bout - Rocky with severe eye damage and Apollo with internal bleeding. Apollo was granted a controversial split decision victory, neither fighter wanting a rematch."

Isn't this the Doomsday scenario for the Dems?

Thanks HRC.

Rocky isn't a good analogy for this campaign, in my judgement. Setting aside the fact that the fight sequences were laughable, i recall balboa worked for a minor mafia figure as an enforcer. But maybe hillary also has that in her history.

I'm reluctant to use the liston analogy, also. Sonny was a thug and bully who ko'ed a game patterson during the heavyweight divisions periodic lean era's. I would not put liston in my list of top 10 greats. He was exposed by ali in their first fight when SL realized he would never catch him, and resorted to cheating by having his glove coated with vaseline so as to blind MA. Once that failed, he quit in his corner. Hillary is a lot of things, but she's no quitter. (In all fairness to liston, he never took a dive in the second fight, as has been rumored for years; rather, he was ko'ed by a short right hand that caught him on the point of the chin. You can see this in the film. Just watch for sonny's head to rock back and down from the impact. It happens somewhere towards the end of round 1, if i recall correctly.)

Going back, we might look at both dempsey-tunney fights. Consider, though, that today jack is still fairly popular, while gene is largely forgotten. This, in spite of the fact that any unbiased observer would have to conclude that tunney easily won 19 of the 20 total rounds they fought. So, i'd toss out that analogy on the basis that both hillary and obama has won several rounds.

I think the best answer is the simplest....Hillary thought the primary would be a cake-walk, and so she never trained for the long haul. Obama, however, thought he could win this thing, and so far has given as good as he's got. (And better, in some instances.) There were a couple of times i thought clinton was going down for the count, but she's managed to stay on her feet. She needs to move in to score some punches to try and turn this around, but finds that she, herself is wobbly, at this juncture. Every time she moves in to initiate an exchange, it is she who comes away the worse for it. Plus the crowd is turning against her. Her only chance now is to stay upright, make this seem competitive enough to hang on till denver, where she hopes the judges (super delegates) will award her the win, in spite of having lost up to this point, (in my opinion.)

Funny thing is the quote from Hillary was written as she meant to say and not as she did say:

       Let me tell you something, when it comes to finishing the fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit. I never give up. And neither do the American people.”

What she did say was "I never GET up"  Talk about sleep deprived.  

Am I picking enough nits?

I heard that also, historian1956, when i first saw the clip. I don't think it was a fruidian slip, however. As long as she's able, hillary will pick herself up off the canvas, because, again, she is no quitter. There's no quit in her personality. She'll soldier on till she's carried out of the ring feet first, all the while looking for a way to buy off the judges if she can't win it fair and square.

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