PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

As a reminder, this department is one where I serve as director and where I have full and complete authority to manage it as I see fit.

That said, there are more good quotes to note, along with my response.

From Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker:  “We tend to forget, too, that Trump is a professional bluffer. We keep thinking he’s the president of the United States. That’s his title, but his identity is Donald J. Trump, television star, celebrity wheeler-dealer, a man who grabs what he wants. Everything he says or does should first be considered in this context.  Poor Comey. Burdened with seriousness, he wore a black tie to a circus.”

Comment: Parker is right to call Trump a “professional bluffer.” One never knows whether Trump is telling a lie or making up stuff. It’s tough for those of us who care about good government to watch him make a mockery of the process.

From a Wall Street Journal Editorial:  “The left’s reflex is that, if something is good, then the government ought to provide it, and some conservatives are falling into the left’s political trap. As we’re learning the hard way this year with ObamaCare and Medicaid, once an entitlement is in place it is nearly impossible to repeal. Middle-class taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay higher taxes to finance family leave for the employees of Wall Street giants.”

Comment: The language on a new entitlement is on target. When one exists, even one as flawed as ObamaCare, every effort to improve it recedes to the background as nearly everyone focuses on who will lose government benefits. Anecdotes prevail over policy.

To be sure, there is a lot wrong with the new effort by Republicans in Congress to follow-up on their campaign promises to repeal ObamaCare. Chief among the debits is a backroom process that rivals what originally happened when Democrats were in charge, and with Barack Obama, put the entitlement in place. Still, the bottom line is that it is almost impossible to change an entitlement.

From another Wall Street Journal editorial:  “The Senate bill is imperfect, but it includes many conservative policy victories that have long been Republican goals. It’s not too much to say this is a defining moment for whether the GOP can ever reform runaway entitlements. If Republicans fail, the next stop is single payer.”

Comment: Agreed. The move to repeal and replace ObamaCare is a test of Republican leadership ability in Congress. I wish it were possible for Republicans to work with Democrats to do the deed, but collaboration is not possible and everyone on both sides shares the blame.

From the Wall Street Journal’s Daniel Henninger: “’Cultural appropriation’ is the sort of thing someone like me gets paid to absorb so other people can keep their heads clear. Among the phrase’s various uses, it means that the representative of one culture isn’t allowed to use the images or traditions of another culture unless the second culture gives its permission. Got it?

“The art world has recently had several cultural-appropriation controversies, which get covered with eye-opening theoretical nuance by New York Times culture writers. Minneapolis’s Walker Art Center agreed to dismantle and ultimately burn a sculpture by a white artist after some members of the Dakota Nation objected.

“People like Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred think they are making a reasonable accommodation (when they ask the Washington Redskins to remove the nickname). But you can’t. The exterminating left will pocket any concession and roll forward toward the next target. Agree to delete Chief Wahoo or burn one uncomprehending artist’s sculpture as cultural misappropriation, and centuries of Western art will be heading to the furnaces or basements, with complicit museum directors holding the door open.

Comment: There is a rationale for political correctness in society today if the motive is to underline the need to avoid unintentional or even unknowing racism. Call it sensitivity. But, if the motive goes beyond that – if, as Henninger writes, “the left will pocket any concession and roll forward toward the next target” – then things are out of whack.

From professional golfer Jim Furyk:  “I forget what famous pro said this:  You never really have it.  You just borrow it for while.  Just when things are going well and you’re hitting it great — it’s almost like you get this feeling of invincibility— that’s when it bites you in the ass.”

Comment: I end with this dealing with something far less serious than government action – or inaction. All of us who are golfers are always trying to “find it” – which means a good swing that can repeat, even under pressure – but, even if we have it for a time, we lose it. Furyk, who appears to be heading to the golf hall of fame, with one of the strangest swings in golf history, has it right. Playing good golf is a transient affair.