Why President Obama would make a good fencer

Last night Andy asked his class this question at the end of his lesson. "Why would President Obama potentially make a good fencer?" There were a lot of suggestions, some treating the question seriously, some assuming it a joke. Here's a selection:

"Because he's got the whole American military behind him"
"Because as soon as someone attacked him the Secret Service would be all over them"
"Because he's a politician and is tactically astute"
"I don't know... what's the punchline?"
I'll deal with the answer later but suffice it to say it linked in with the topic of the lesson I had planned very neatly. I wanted to talk about observation and opportunities. Musashi once said "Observation and perception are two separate things; the observing eye is stronger, the perceiving eye is weaker. A speciality of martial arts is to see that which is far away closely and to see that which is nearby from a distance". To me this is saying that quite often we look at things without really seeing what is happening. To bring this into fencing, quite often in a match I see two fencers banging away at each other without actually having a clue as to what is really happening. They are so busy looking at what they want to achieve that they don't see the opportunities in the fight that their opponent is giving them. For instance, imagine an opponent who fences with their foil in the low line for some reason. This to me is a passive opportunity as it is the opponent's passivity that gives you the opportunity to attack them in the high line. Even if they parry it they will almost invariably swipe from octave to quarte giving you the chance to disengage around their blade and still hit them. Or what about someone who just parries quarte and never ripostes? Well, here the opportunity is to disengage around their parry and hit. Again, the opponent's passivity yields opportunity. Some cases rely on the opponent being active. Take for example the fencer who engages in sixte every time they advance. Their activity allows you to counter-disengage and stop hit on their preparation. Or someone who always parries quarte and ripostes direct. Here you have the opportunity to deploy your first counter riposte with great effect. There are also greater subtleties. An opponent who is adept at the stop hit on your preparation should be lured into doing it so you score with your pre-selected parry riposte, thus turning their skill against them. All these techniques rely on accurately seeing what is happening during a fight and are a significant evolution for a fencer to make. Once you have mastered the basics of technique your brain and body can stop concentrating so much on what you are doing and start to examine what the opponent is doing. This brings a whole new facet into your game and a greater sense of enjoyment and achievement. It is important to be self aware but also to be aware of what is occurring around you. It's the difference between an average fencer and a good fencer. Oh and the answer to the question posed at the start.... Well, President Obama is a left hander, judging by the way he signed the oath of authority...... Nothing complicated really but simple if you really saw what happened.....