(Note: I posted this on Daily Kos yesterday with a different title.
I made slight edits to gear it for this place. That posting can be
found here.)

There has been a lot of gnashing of teeth lately, most recently by Paul Krugman, that Obama has not hit McCain hard enough on the issues.

Daily Kos diarist David Kronig recently compared Obama's fighting style to be like aikido. (h/t Bubbanomics) I love that analogy, and would like to add that he also fights like Mohammed Ali.

We all know the expression "Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee." It's lodged into our collective psyche. Sure, it's become cliche, but think about how beautifully simple this concept is, and how Obama is using it in his untraditional -- i.e. new -- campaign.

First, is Obama floating like a butterfly? You better believe he is. Think about it: right in the middle of the fiercest onslaught by the Rove attack machine, he takes a vacation. An elitist, exotic Hawaii vacation (snark) but a vacation nonetheless. So McCain unloads early, and often, right from the gate. He gives Mohammad Ali Obama his best, slamming him, trashing him, questioning his fundamental American-ness, attacks which our Traditional Media stars just crave and love to repeat.

In spite of -- or because of -- these attacks, he hops on a plane, goes to Hawaii and visits his family. Damn, that's gutsy. It's also literally and figuratively floating like a butterfly, using the air currents around him to neatly deflect any attack McCain throws at him.

One week later, refreshed and energized, he boards a plane, headed back to the mainland. Upon arriving in the Lower 48, he proceeds to sting like a bee, with a direct assault on McCain's specific policies.

Notice that Ali never suggested that he should "Float Like a Butterfly and Punch Like a Drunken Kangaroo." No no no, he stings like a bee. Sure, a drunken kangaroo punch would probably hurt, but getting stung like a bee hurts, itches, burns, irritates and sends fear in the hearts of even the strongest among us. And getting stung a whole bunch of times can seriously suck, and could prove fatal for some poor soul. Just thinking about it gives me shivers.

So here is Obama, with is 50-state strategy, hitting McCain at the time of his choosing. Remember: the ballsy SOB took a vacation in the middle of the onslaught! He is timing his attacks to slowly wear out the Rove machine with their kangaroo punching strategy. That 41-page anti-Corsi book is an amazing example of this: he stung Corsi, whose meta-narrative suddenly fell by the wayside, even if it produced a few days of headlines.

Is Mohammad Ali Obama's strategy working? You better believe it is, so much so that McCain has to throw out the whole "Obama hates America" nonsense. That's the best he's got? Seriously? Or is McCain so worn down by Obama's nonstop stinging that their side is already running out of attack ideas?

This is not a call for complacency. I am not saying Obama should not attack McCain or the VRWC. I am simply saying that, maybe, just maybe, we are not privy to Obama's larger strategic goals than we think we are. After all, he brought down the once-vaunted Clinton machine, not with kangaroo punches, but with lots of stings, timed remarkably well. So before we all get too upset and suggest he attack McCain harder, try to keep in mind he may know what he is doing.