Citations:thread the needle

Verb: "(idiomatic) to find harmony or strike a balance between conflicting forces, interests, etc."

 * 2004 — Stuart E. Eizenstat, Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor, and the Unfinished Business of World War II, PublicAffairs (2004), ISBN 9781586481100, page 295:
 * To thread the needle between the plaintiffs' lawyers, who insisted on being able to reopen all past restitution cases, and the Austrian government, which wanted none challenged, I suggested that property claims could be allowed where there were "gaps and deficiencies" in postwar Austrian restitution laws.
 * 2006 — L. Paul Bremer (with Malcom McConnell), My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope, Simon & Schuster (2006), ISBN 9780743273893, page 381:
 * And I suggested we have the UN resolution endorse the concept of federalism, which the Kurds wanted, and the timetable for the January 2005 elections, as a way to thread the needle between the Kurdish and Sistani demands.
 * 2008 — Christopher Gergen & Gregg Vanourek, Life Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives, Jossey-Bass (2008), ISBN 9780787988623, page 10:
 * It is the life entrepreneur who is able to thread the needle, preserving the quality of life while thriving in his chosen context.
 * 2009 — Frank Newport, "Obama's Plan for Afghanistan Finds Bipartisan Support", Gallup Politics, 3 December 2009:
 * President Obama has managed to thread the needle with his newly announced Afghanistan strategy, with his approach winning the approval of a majority of both Democrats (58%) and Republicans (55%) in a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Wednesday night.
 * 2010 — James C. Foster, Bong Hits 4 Jesus: A Perfect Constitutional Storm in Alaska's Capital, University of Alaska Press (2010), ISBN 9781602230897, page 215:
 * Were I writing for the Court, I would seek to thread the needle between acknowledging Principal Morse's authority, on the one hand, while respecting student Frederick's rights, on the other.
 * 2011 — Christopher S. Elmendorf, "Empirical Legitimacy and Election Law", in Race, Reform, and Regulation of the Electoral Process: Recurring Puzzles in American Democracy (eds. Guy-Uriel E. Charles, Heather K. Gerken, & Michael S. Kang), Cambridge University Press (2011), ISBN 9781107001671, page 126:
 * In some legal domains, judges have tried to thread the needle — keeping constitutional law congruent with contemporary political morality while honoring norms of legality — by defining rights in terms of the consensus practices of the states.
 * 2012 — Kenneth Anderson, "Efficiency in Bello and ad Bellum: Making the Use of Force Too Easy?", in Targeted Killings: Law and Morality in an Asymmetrical World (eds. Claire Finkelstein, Jens David Ohlin, Andrew Altman), Oxford University Press (2012), ISBN 9780199646470, page 398 (footnote):
 * I believe that this is approximately the position that Lincoln takes in the final paragraph of the Second Inaugural Address, in which he attempts to thread the needle between a moral absolutism, on the one hand, and moral relativism, on the other.
 * 2012 — Simon Finger, The Contagious City: The Politics of Public Health in Early Philadelphia, Cornell University Press (2012), ISBN 9780801448935, page 42:
 * In the wake of the recruitment controversy, Governor Thomas tried to thread the needle by providing for the "poor Palantines" without exposing the province to the risk of infection.
 * 2012 — Samuel L. Popkin, The Candidate: What It Takes to Win - And Hold - The White House, Oxford University Press (2012), ISBN 9780199922079, page 42:
 * Although the Carter campaign managed to thread the needle in that complicated situation in Philadelphia, it ignited a firestorm when Carter addressed the Irish National Congress in Pittsburgh.
 * 2012 — Brett WIlson, A Race Of Female Patriots: Women and Public Spirit on the British Stage, 1688-1745, Bucknell University Press (2012), ISBN 9781611483642, page 294:
 * George Berkeley tries to thread the needle by advocating a combination of nonresistance to rightful rulers with the ability to refuse unjust commands: