Such power plays are of course as old as rulers themselves, but as we toot the horns of our increasingly refined world, we've convinced ourselves that power for power's sake is a barbaric and appropriately extinct goal among our politicians.
Rhetoric is passe, blackmail too tricky, force too messy.
To argue with a politician is to argue with a stone. Clinton has the technique nailed. His name is Glen Clark. They are currently facing a lawsuit for this lie. Negotiating an irreversible and possibly unconstitutional native land treaty without public consultation.