Trade Tease

It is now two months beyond where Trump threatened to increase Chinese tariffs to 25%, I have previously speculated that Xi is playing the rope-a-dope with Trump ... stretching things out until the election season ... hoping Trump will make a bad deal in order to bump his polls.

China seems to be acting like a fan dancer ... now you see it, now you don’t ... public statements that suggest progress, but still the back-and-forth negotiations drag on.

It would appear to this poster that we are nearing the “get off the pot” time for China. President Trump needs to put the fear of  Confucius back into these critical negotiations ... possibly imposing the 25% tariffs and threatening even higher ones.

Playing Possum

Rush Limbaugh has a new corollary to his old “Teflon Barry” theory (wherein Obama appears detached from world and national events so that he is never held accountable by the media for bad outcomes … it is always other persons or events that are to blame.) Now Rush believes that Obama is slyly encouraging the now popular meme that he is inattentive to all his administration’s problems so that he can, sub rosa, still advance his agenda of transforming America … basically a clever political rope-a-dope. (I, myself, could be then accused of playing into this Obama tactic … see my Hand on the Throttle posting.)

If this is truly President Obama’s sinister strategy, then one only needs watch events over the next few months to see how much pissing on the Constitution he tries to carry off. If this is in fact faux presidential inattentiveness, then Limbaugh may once again be on to something. The acid test will be whether our fearless leader continues to stick it to middle America … particularly after the mid-term elections in November.

I don't often disagree with Rush Limbaugh ... but somehow I feel he may be giving Obama more credit by a half than he deserves … his apparent sleep-walking through his many administration problems may well be just a mélange of laziness and inexperience … and not perspicacity … in my humble opinion.

Underdog to the Rescue

"There's no need to fear ...  Underdog is here!"  See: The ABC Interview.

Apparently, an Obama transmogrification is the order of the day.  Things are so far down, they look like up. Admit that re-election prospects suck, you've screwed up big time, and play for the sympathy vote in the 2012 election.  It just might work ... considering that the weepy females in this country helped elect Obama in 2008.  Such a strategy blunts the ability of his opponent to attack him in the debates next year.  He can just play the rope-a-dope and look put-upon to counter such obvious rhetorical parries ... kind of like what Hillary Clinton did when she ran for Senator.  Remember when Rick Lazio confronted her on the debate stage?  Many think this Lazio aggression is what won it for her.

The only thing is ... unlike Underdog's alter ego, Shoeshine Boy, I don't think The Barry ever stooped to that level ... but maybe that's next.