Framing: Lincoln, The Civil War, and Iraq

In Russo and Shoemakers Decision Traps, they talk about the importance of frames and decision-making. Frames are simplifications and organizations that allow us to structure a complex world. Frames keep complexity within reason so that our minds can manage. No one can make a rational decision without framing. Buyer beware: any frame leaves us with a partial view of the problem or issue.

Decision Trap number 2:
Frame Blindness - Setting out to solve the wrong problem because you have created a mental framework for your decision, with little thought, that cause you to overlook the best options or lose sight of important objectives.

I was always struck as to Lincoln's insistence that the war was about Union and not necessarily slavery. This is an excellent example of how framing was used in a very successful manner. Without that frame I do not believe that Lincoln could have held true to his principles and persevered in such an arduous and hororific task. There is a famous passage about how Lincoln will use what ever means is necessary to hold the Union together, no matter its effect on slavery. Here is that passage that is an excerpt from a letter to Horace Greeley:

"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume V, "Letter to Horace Greeley" (August 22, 1862), p. 388.

Lincoln has identified his paramount objective as saving the union. Thus, every decision, strategy and action flows from that frame. There were numerous ways in which Lincoln could have framed the conflict, in fact there was quite a bit of pressure to frame the conflict as anti-slavery, yet he chose to frame it as saving the Union - a more palatable and constitutionally defensible rationale. He did say in his Second Inaugural:

"One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war."

Thus, saving the union was his paramount objective, but the reason he had to save the union was because slavery had divided the country.

Now, in retrospect, what looks like genius, might be interpreted in light of correctly framing the issue in a way that was clear, understandable and actionable. Without that crystal clear frame, the subsequent decisions would have lacked purpose and wisdom and very possibly success.

The current state of affairs in Iraq, suffers from a lack of clarity in framing. The Iraq Was has been variously framed as stopping WMDs, getting the terrorists of 911, regime change, bringing democracy to the middle east, and its current rationale that we can't afford to leave because it would become a terrorist haven, even though it appears that it wasn't one to start with. Consequently, we have seen differing policies to match the various frames. It is no wonder that there has not been a "successful" conclusion to this conflict in the four plus years of fighting.