There is a trick you can use on children, providing they’re young enough. It’s often called “reverse psychology”, and it consists of, for instance, offering an obstreperous youngster something you don’t want him to have, in the expectation that he will insist on the opposite. It’s often hard to manipulate anyone older than four with this method, but there are exceptions, and it looks like, perhaps, the minority leader of the House of Representatives might be among them:
House Minority Leader John Boehner said Sunday that defense spending should not be exempt from President Obama’s proposed spending freeze.
Now, when I find myself agreeing with John Boehner, I pinch myself. I did so this time; it hurt, and I found that I was indeed awake. I then played the scenario over in my mind. Suppose Obama had not proposed exempting defense from the freeze. What would the Republican reaction have been? Need we ask? Is it possible that Obama can get rational policy in this country simply by proposing something stupid, and then conceding to the Republicans when they reflexively propose the opposite? Certainly, at some point, they would have to figure it out, but who knows how much good could be accomplished before they do?
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