Reply #27: He absolutely HAD to stand up for himself or he would have

[Samantha]

ended up as political road kill.

The name of the game in politics is the same as it is in competitive volleyball. Find your opponent's weakest spot and continually hit it. Obama's "weakest" spot is in his civility. He has proclaimed from the start that he wanted to run a clean campaign. How does one play a clean game in the dirtiest of sports? And so his primary opponent, sensing his greatest weakness was simply in his quest to stay on the high road, delivered, and continues to deliver, many roundhouse serves, sometimes simply attempting to hit the back line, but overestimating where that line was drawn, and often sending the ball out of bounds.

The frustration in Obama has clearly been building for some time. He finally reached a point where he had to lay down and die or start to hit back. Tonight he clearly showed he could hit back, but doing so cleanly dealing with sheer facts. At times, there was slight hesitation, but recovery soon followed. It is a game of nerve, afterall.

Hillary Clinton encountered many situations where she had to "dig" the ball from hitting the ground. At times, he clearly put her on the defensive. During moments when she tried to prematurely take the ball back from him, he fought her for it, and he held on to it.

Some have speculated the Clintons were merely baiting him, a maneuver known on the volleyball court as faking the opponent out. Whether the hits were political bait or sporting fake, he met them and returned them back over the net. He remains in the game.

His opponents will now have to scout his next weakest spot? Does he have one?