In other words, the coalition of the ascendant has cornered the dying beast.

[kpete]

"Permission structure" and The Art of War

..............

President Obama:

And I think there are members certainly in the Senate right now, and I suspect members in the House as well, who understand that deep down. But they're worried about their politics. It’s tough. Their base thinks that compromise with me is somehow a betrayal. They’re worried about primaries. And I understand all that. And we're going to try to do everything we can to create a permission structure for them to be able to do what’s going to be best for the country. But it’s going to take some time

...when I heard the President talk about creating a permission structure, what came to my mind is the idea of letting your opponents save face in defeat. It is an ancient strategy from Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

If you surround the enemy, leave an outlet; do not press an enemy that is cornered.

A google search sent me to this interesting article about the fact that President Obama quoted Sun Tzu to a group of Jewish leaders in talking to them about his approach to Iran. The author explains:

We need to let people save face, especially when their only alternative left when surrounded (and sanctioned) is to battle to the bitter end. The key here is Obama is taking the more difficult yet desirable route of winning without fighting. Anybody can fight -- only the wise truly win.

What is interesting to me is that if President Obama is attempting to create a permission structure (or to allow the Republicans to "save face&quot , then its also true that the opposition is surrounded. As I've been suggesting for a while now, the forces that are aligned against him look very much like a beast in its death throes.


..........
more:
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2013/05/permission-structure-and-art-of-war.html

[Turbineguy]

1. Let's hope that

analysis is correct.

[bemildred]

2. Yep.

Aggression is not a good strategy.

[Pirate Smile]

3. This is what Republicans (and the press) don't understand about Pres. Obama's strategy about many

things.

[JDPriestly]

4. There is some truth in that. But have you heard of the monster from the dark lagoon?

Saving your opponent's face is a very delicate art.

You should not lose your friends in order to save your enemy's face. And when he suggested chained CPI, Obama did exactly that -- or pretty nearly. If that goes through, Obama will have offended his friends and hurt all Democrats. That would be very sad.