FOOTNOTES OF HISTORY DEPT.: On 30 April 1976, at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, two-time heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali defended his title against the little-known Jimmy Young of Philadelphia in a fight widely viewed as just another payday for the champ - he would make $2 million for the bout and was expected to dominate his less-experienced, less-talented opponent. However, Young, whose record stood at 17-4-2, had no intention of being yet another Ali victim. Having beaten Ron Lyle in a straight-up fight and having fought the powerful Earnie Shavers to a standstill, Young was a cagey, crafty fighter who was difficult to hit. For fifteen rounds, Young dodged, weaved and counterpunched the champion silly, avoiding most of the heavy blows while scoring repeatedly himself. Ali never seemed to get a clean shot at him and for many of the fans in the arena and watching on TV, it seemed that they were witnessing an upset. Yet in a surprise announcement, Referee Tom Kelly scored the fight 72-65; judges Larry Barrett and Terry Moore had it 70-68 and 71-64, respectively: Amid a chorus of boos and insults from the capacity crowd, Ali was declared the winner in a unanimous decision and retained his title. Ken Norton (who was calling the action ringside for NBC and who had beaten Ali and broken his jaw two years previous) thought that Young had clearly outduelled the champion. Confirming popular opinion, Ali refused a rematch with Young, unwilling to face such a cunning opponent - and further embarrassment - ever again.
Why was there such outrage over the decision? Why was there such a disconnect between the fans watching the fight and the officials who decided it? Because Young's style of boxing, designed to frustrate and confuse his opponent, to protect himself from Ali's deadly combinations while allowing him to score with jabs and straight rights, was not what makes a champion. Simply surviving didn't impress anybody - if Young really wanted to beat Muhammad Ali and take his belt, he had to be the aggressor, he had to take the fight to him and whip him on national TV. Against a legend like Ali, Jimmy Young would have to take risks, get in close and knock the champ out at point-blank range, something he was clearly unwilling to do. That being the case, the judges saw no justification for giving him Ali's title: Jabbing and counterpunching just weren't good enough.
We now have a situation in Afghanistan that bears some resemblance to my pugilistic example. LTG Stanley McChrystal, President Obama's hand-picked commander in that theater, has requested 40,000 additional troops to augment his current force of 68,000, over and above the 17,000 personnel he received in the Spring. LTG McChrystal is convinced that without these reinforcements, he will be unable to counter the current Taliban offensive and may not be able to hold the country; that is, the United States might lose the war. He wants the strength to get in close, take the fight to the enemy and knock them out, yet President Obama is notably reluctant to approve LTG McChrystal's request as this contravenes his party's 45-year aversion to military action and his own liberal instincts. Having repeatedly stated that the war in Afghanistan was the one we had to win, the President now searches for a way to abandon it. (Recall that then-Senator Obama vehemently opposed President Bush's troop surge in Iraq in 2007, claiming the war was already lost. Since that surge actually worked, His Serene Loftiness is reluctant to validate conservative military strategy yet again.) He hesitates, he considers shifting away from defeating the Taliban and toward pursuing Al Qaeda, away from Afghanistan altogether and toward Pakistan, he commissions a review of LTG McChrystal's plan and floats trial balloons through his surrogates like negotiating with the Taliban rather than destroying them, he has SecDef Robert Gates rebuke LTG McChrystal and CENTCOM chief GEN Petraeus for publicly advocating for McChrystal's strategy, he rebukes LTG McChrystal on board Air Force One personally, his willing accomplices in the news media publish opinion polls and reports indicating the American public's fatigue with the eight-year war and their doubts as to whether continuing the fight is worth it, he does everything possible to avoid simply approving LTG McChrystal's request. He considers withdrawing most American combat troops and relying instead on armed Predator drones, special operations forces and airstrikes to do the job, jabbing and counterpunching from a distance like Jimmy Young did, keeping the enemy off-balance and avoiding the big knockout punch.
...instead of delivering the big knockout punch. President Obama, like Jimmy Young, instinctively chooses a defensive strategy that assures personal survival but surrenders the initiative to his opponent, thereby guaranteeing defeat. If we are not actively pursuing the Taliban and attacking them first, we are inviting them to do the same to us, and with Taliban forces gaining momentum throughout Afghanistan, we must do everything possible to stop them, regain the initiative and crush them, or else risk losing the war, which we cannot afford to do. Bill Clinton relied on cruise missiles and airstrikes for nearly three months against Serbia in 1999 but the only thing that drove the Serbs to the bargaining table was the threat of ground invasion, so Obama has that example from his immediate Democrat predecessor from which to draw inspiration. We cannot lose Afghanistan. That is a simple, undeniable fact and one which His Serene Loftiness claims to understand. If that is indeed the case, Mr. President, then answer LTG McChrystal's request, commit the troops, fight America's enemies toe-to-toe and win the war...or slink away, disgraced and defeated, to your eternal shame.
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