The JJW Blog

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I respect the president and still hold out hope, but he does have to realize that he is dampening the passions that carried him into the White House by failing to follow the rules of hardcore negotiating. My mother, who worked as an environmental lobbyist (on the good side), always said that you pick a “red herring”—a more extreme, but less desired aspects of a bill—and treat it as your do-or-die issue. Then, when you agree to get rid of the item, you insist that your opponents won’t get further concessions (leaving intact the elements you really wanted).