If Only You Understood!

There is a disturbing trend in today's politics to say, "If they just understood my idea, they would accept it."

This philosophical abomination is used across the political spectrum, but has been particularly prevalent in the Obama administration.

It is an abomination because it presumes that only one side of an argument is valid.  That is almost never the case in the political arena.  It dismisses the opposing ideas out-of-hand, giving them and their adherents no due respect.  It presumes that opposing opinions are not valid, or are morally and/or intellectually inferior, while implicitly exalting the speaker's ideas.  It is pure intellectual and moral arrogance.

Watch for this tactic, and see it for what it is.