Time keeps marching on but themes recur.
Take, for example, the rope-a-dope.
March 8 was the 40th anniversary of the boxing match that quickly became known as “The Fight of the Century.” In 1971, Muhammad Ali met Joe Frazier in Madison Square Garden for the heavyweight championship. It was a battle of undefeated champions. Ali was recently back from a three-year exile that sprang from his objections to the Vietnam War. Frazier had taken Ali’s vacated title; his workman-like style had made him a favorite of the Silent Majority.
It was a clash of boxing titans but it also was a showdown of cultures.
The two went toe-to-toe for several rounds before Ali unveiled a strategy of dancing to kill time, limit his exposure to damage and make the best use of his quick counter-punching skills. Thus was born the rope-a-dope.
Boxing as a metaphor seems so 20th century. In the 21st century, the political ring looks more likely to provide “The Fight of the Century.”
We’ve already got a good one shaping up here in Connecticut and it looks like rope-a-dope may be the key strategy.
It’s been tough watching Governor Malloy bobbing and weaving at these town hall meetings. He’s taken plenty of body blows from aggrieved taxpayers, businesses and state employees. Yet he’s retained his quick wit and landed lots of righteous jabs at previous decisionmakers. There is no sign of blood yet but there are a lot of rounds to go.
Meanwhile, talks have begun amid a media blackout between Malloy’s team seeking $2 billion in givebacks and state employee unions who have a guaranteed deal into 2017. Will labor go the rope-a-dope route, listening to proposals and countering until the legislative clock runs down?
How could Malloy respond if the unions stalled into June before saying no? Even a $100 million concession wouldn’t make a dent in the budget hole and Malloy would be hard-pressed to effectively muster legislative support for a massive cut in services and payroll. That might be just the bind that suits labor’s interests just fine.
And then there’s the legislature itself. Legislators are getting an earful from constituents who are tired of paying existing taxes and are hostile to any new levies. Could they rope-a-dope their way to giving Malloy far fewer new tax dollars than he seeks?
The upshot of all these rope-a-dopes, of course, would be the same — to push Malloy into a Rell-like solution of borrowing and accounting chicanery to balance an unbalanced budget. That’s exactly what he so correctly said can’t happen. But it’s exactly the answer that seems to best serve the short-term needs of labor, legislators and, if we are to believe the Quinnipiac poll, taxpayers.
Control of this fight is in Malloy’s hands, just as it was in Ali’s hands 40 years ago. At any point, he can choose to stop his rope-a-dope and force the issue. And that’s just what Malloy needs to do.
In the interest of assuring a successful resolution to the debt crisis, Malloy must now set a firm timeline for the labor talks to produce results and for the legislature to take action on his new tax plans. The alternative would be to deliver his version of a devastating left — by outlining the threatened massive cuts in programs and personnel.
If he does neither, the incentive for continued rope-a-dope seems irresistible. And the peril for the state increases as the days pass.
For those whose memories are short, Frazier won that fight 40 years ago with a sharp left to Ali’s jaw in the 15th round.
The question for us now is which side will land the determining blow late in this budget fight.
