Harvard Business: How to Debate Without Further Dividing People

by Nick Morgan

How do you argue your side of an emotional, contentious issue in a way that doesn't further divide people? President Obama's recent speech, "Protecting Our Security and Our Values," delivered at the National Archives on May 21, 2009, was an example of a well-argued speech that unfortunately will only inflame the debate further.

The speech is a clearly constructed brief on what the Obama Administration has done to keep America safe — and how it has diverged from the previous administration's attempts to do exactly the same thing. However you feel about the politics of the matter, if Obama was hoping to still the debate, here's where he went wrong: (more)