On the question of torture, which Obama unequivocally opposes, the political temptation is to signal a willingness to show no mercy to our worst enemies, in much the way that Governor Bill Clinton, in his first campaign for President, returned to Arkansas for the execution of Rickey Ray Rector, a mentally disabled death-row inmate.
If one state legislature succumbs to this temptation, another legislature -- controlled by the opposing party -- may well follow suit, creating a partisan battle far worse than what we have already witnessed in Florida.
Also, resist the temptation to email or post malicious, salacious or revealing information that could be damaging if presented in court by opposing counsel.
"When you're in opposition, the temptation is to oppose everything the government does – and believe me, I feel that temptation," said Harman, responding to the hour-long budget speech.
"The temptation is always to oppose everything.
The temptation will be to oppose new oil production projects indiscriminately.
As the United States sinks deeper into trouble in Iraq, the European countries that opposed the war are resisting the temptation to gloat at least in public.
And there will always be a place on my table for Janssons Frestelse, or Jansson's Temptation, named for a cleric, opposed on principle to pleasure, who couldn't resist it.
We've evolved cognitively, culturally, to the point where we've come to see that when two or more ideas conflict, the conventional temptation is to reconcile or oppose them.
"It will need to resist the temptation to characterize all who have opposed the occupation as terrorists and bitter-enders".
