Remembering Muhammad Ali

The current travails of Barrack Obama in the primary elections remind me of what happened years ago to Muhammad Ali, the legendary boxer. Ali won the heavyweight championship of the world in 1964, when he was just 22 years old. He was a marvelous boxer with a style so different from the plodding heavyweight boxers. He was fast on his feet, and could dance around his opponents throwing lightning fast jabs at them, round after round. It was sheer delight to watch him box. Nobody could beat him. He was a showman, and knew how to hype the boxing events with predictions, funny poems and on-liners. In short, he was a big boost to the sports of boxing. However, he did not fit the traditional mold of ‘dumb black heavy weight champion’ who did whatever the higher ups told him to do. Ali became extremely unpopular when he joined the ‘Nation of Islam’, which was one of the very few organizations in those days that instilled pride about ones black heritage. The Boxing Commissions in this country, controlled by ultra conservative whites, waited for a chance to strip Ali of his title although he was unbeatable in the ring. They got their opportunity in 1967, when Ali refused to answer the call to be drafted to the U.S. Army to fight in Viet Nam. (‘I have nothing against Viet Cong. They have never called me a nigger’). Without any hearings for his refusal to go to war for USA, they summarily took back his boxing license. Ali was criticized severely in the MSM, and many calling him ‘unpatriotic’ and a ‘traitor’. It took three years before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Ali was right, and that he should be given back his boxing license. Ali won his championship back, and became a legend in boxing with many memorable fights. But the Ali who came back in 1970, was not his old self. He had lost his speed and stamina, and had to change his style to ‘rope a dope’ which involved tiring the opponent by taking heavy punishments to his body. This did its damage over the years, and now Muhammad Ali is a sorry figure, ‘punch drunk’, disabled with Parkinson’s disease.

How does the Ali story relate to Barrack Obama? I find many similarities between the two. Like Ali was to boxing in 1964, Obama is a dazzling phenomenon in American politics with a style so different from the ‘slash and burn’ tactics of the established. Like the classic Ali’s fights, Obama’s speeches are mesmerizing, and will be referred and discussed for years to come. Obama has an excellent mind, with an ability to see the big picture and to identify the root causes of an issue. He can work with the both sides (Republicans and Democrats). He is the leader this country deperately needs at this time, like boxing needed a showman like Ali in the 1960’s. As Ali was unbeatable in 1964-65, Obama is now unbeatable in the on-going primary elections. There is no way that his sole opposition, Hillary Clinton, can catch up with him in the number of primary delegates won, states won, and even in the popular votes cast. Yet, like Boxing Commissions in 1960’s, the establishment of the Democratic party ('super delegates') is still waiting around, looking for a reason to deny Obama his nomination, and to give it to their favorite, Hillary Clinton. The recent flap over Obama’s association with a controversial preacher, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, may be the opening they are waiting for. There is no doubt in my mind that the Democratic Party would be severely damaged if Obama is denied his well-earned nomination, and would lose the the general election to John McCain of the Republican Party. Maybe then the chastened party will go back to Obama in 2012. Unfortunatley, as Ali was in 1970, Obama would be past his peak by then. He would have become another ' seasoned politician' in Washington, less idealistic, and out of touch with the people.

One of those moments!

I am a part-time teacher in a local university. I teach classes in Information Technology. As the owner of a software company with over 30 years of experience working in big corporations, I have stories to tell, and challenging real life cases for the students to ponder. Still, in every class there invariably will be a few students who do not ‘get it’ however hard you try, and one or two who would give me a bad evaluation at the end of the class. Of course, I do get positive feed backs and occasional notes of appreciation from students. But I never truly feel good about them, as I wonder if they are just flattery to please the instructor. Anyway, this week I had a surprise audit of my teaching skills with a professor sitting in my class to observe. (The university does this every few years). Guess what? I received a very complimentary evaluation. There were statements like, ‘faculty was very positive and easy in manner, providing relaxed professional forum for learning…was very good at asking questions that got at depth of class understanding of the material… students comported themselves well reflecting facilitators style.’. As I signed the evaluation from, the professor said ‘the students are privileged to have a teacher like you!’. It was one of those moments when you feel it is worth what are you doing -- (like the 'moments' Barack Obama often talks about!)

Stop the world! I want to get off.

I am quite bummed about the way Hillary Clinton has made a comeback from the threshold of defeat, by winning Ohio and Texas primaries. She threw everything she could get her hands on (including the 'kitchen sink'), to stop the Obama’s momentum, and it worked. Her ‘3 AM Call’ T.V. commercial frightened many to have second thoughts about a young Obama as their Commander and Chief. (How can one trust that the highly emotional ‘Shillary’ would be better than the calm and unflappable Obama, is beyond me) Clinton also made the maximum out of a misleading NAFTA statement an Obama advisor made to the Canadian Embassy. Anyway, the Clinton team is now encouraged to raise their attacks to an ever nastier level. Yesterday Hillary claimed that only she and the Republican opponent John McCain, are qualified to be the Commander in Chief of USA. This implies that if she is not the nominee of the Democratic Party, people should vote for McCain in the general election! Obviously, she does care much about the success of the Democratic Party if she is not the nominee. The political pundits are saying now that Obama has to attack back to survive (they love a good fight!). This means Obama has to come down from his pedestal of decency, and be like any other politician who would lie and cheat to win. It will be a mistake, although I do not mind to see someone dishing it back to Clinton in kind! Today I hear that an Obama adviser, Samantha Power, had to resign because she referred Hillary as a ‘monster’ in an interview she gave to a newspaper. (Although, she told the news reporter that statement was ‘off the record’, the paper published it any way for some cheap publicity). Recently, a popular N.B.C. television program ('Saturday Night Live') exhorted people to vote for Hillary because she is a ‘bit**’ who can get things done, and it made Hillary so happy that she joined them in their next show. I guess being called a 'bit**' is better than being called a 'monster'. Everywhere, I see deceit and people taking advantage of the other. Decency and honesty are weaknesses in this world. I am disgusted.