Hillary Clinton this morning compares herself to Rocky, saying she won't quit. She tells an audience in Philadelphia:
Let me tell you something, when it comes to finishing a fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit. I never give up. And neither do the American people.
Let's hope for her sake they don't have too much in common. In the first Rocky film, an Oscar-winning production from 1976, the title character played by Sylvester Stallone is a washed out fighter who defies the odds and lands a match with world champion Apollo Creed. He goes the distance - as Clinton pledges to - only to lose by decision at the end.
The film may present an uncomfortable parallel for the New York senator. While she has more than once fended off knock-out victories by rival Barack Obama, she is unlikely to score a blow in Pennsylvania punishing enough to drive him from the race. She hopes to surpass him in the popular vote with large wins there and in the handful of remaining states and thus persuade the Democratic party superdelegates, elected officials and insiders not bound to the results in the states, to side with her at the August nominating convention. She added:
The Republicans aren't going to give up without a fight. And no matter how beautiful your rhetoric, the Republicans aren't going to turn off their attack machine. It doesn't have an off-switch.
My colleague Simon Hoggart points out another layer to the metaphor. He writes:
She walks into the thump of Eye of the Tiger, the Rocky theme, a film about a white boxer who defeats among others a big tough black guy. Was it subliminal? I doubt it. In modern politics, glaringly obvious is the new subliminal, and today she made the point directly comparing herself improbably to the Sylvester Stallone character.
Later, hoping to play on Obama's poor turn at the bowling alley Sunday, Hillary challenges him to a game -- even offering to spot him two frames.
Turns out it's just a joke. For April fools. (And who ever said the Clintons don't joke?).
Watch her call-out press conference here.
