A double bind is essentially caused by the communication of two mutually exclusive ideas, concepts or expressions. If memory serves me well, Bateson first noted the double bind while observing a mother's visit with her troubled son. The mother said something like, "Don't you know I love you? Don't you love Mommy? Come over here and let Mommy hug you." When the boy came to hug his mother, his mother stiffened, pulling her head back; she hugged her son awkwardly and insincerely. Bateson's anecdote shows the subtle cruelty of the double bind.
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Behold a political double bind that should trouble us all!
On Tuesday, from the heights of the current economic crisis, here's what Democrat Harry Reid, Senater Majority Leader, said about Sen. John McCain:
“We need, now, the Republicans to start producing some votes for us. We need the Republican nominee for president to let us know where he stands and what we should do.”
You can watch Sen. Reid make his comments here:
Obviously, such a statement by itself cannot a double bind make. But when you add the following to the recipe, well, we're left laughing double-bent at the preposterous double bind. Here's Sen. Harry Reid on Wednesday:
"It would not be helpful at this time to have [John McCain and Barack Obama] come back during these negotiations and risk injecting presidential politics into this process or distract important talks about the future of our nation's economy. If that changes, we will call upon them. We need leadership; not a campaign photo op."
The same day, we heard this from Democrat congressman and-up-to-his-eyeballs-in-this-quagmire Barney Frank:
"All of a sudden, now that we're on the verge of making a deal, John McCain drops himself in to make a deal. I really worry about the politicization of it....
"Frankly, we're going to have to interrupt a negotiating session tomorrow between Democrats and Republicans on a bill, where I think we're getting pretty close, and troop down to the White House for their photo-op, and then come back and get on to it. ...
"We're trying to rescue the economy, not the McCain campaign," he added.
Damned if you do and ... damned if you do.
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