Barack Obama

But 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.