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.

To repeat what I have written several times in the past, this is one of two departments I run with a free hand to do what I deem to be right and best. The other is the Department of Pet Peeves.

I have not written much on the latter subject lately, though in the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering, I have an opportunity to share a pet peeve or two as I comment on quotes.

So, here goes again.

From Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ):  “The week has lent itself to a feeling of instability. The president has deliberately added to the rancor and tension of his nation’s daily life, lurching in his tweets from mischief to malice to a kind of psychopathology—personal attacks, insinuations, videos from a group labeled racist by the British government. You always want to say he has reached peak crazy, but you know there’s a higher peak on the horizon. What will Everest look like? He has no idea how to be president.”

Comment: As usual, Noonan is right on point. Trump has no idea how to be president. He violates many of the norms of reasonable conduct regardless of political party. He also tends to compromise his own supposed objectives – and, to get an idea of how damaging and risky is his conduct, just read one of the quotes below from the Washington Post.

From Holman Jenkins in the WSJ:  “Retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn on Friday pleaded guilty to lying about a non-crime. Even Adam Schiff, the House Democrat most determined to ride the Russia collusion story to bigger and better things, acknowledged that conferring with a representative of Russia about the incoming administration’s Russia policy is not illegal or improper.”

Comment: Jenkins makes a good point. Simply talking with Russians is not necessarily illegal or improper. Of course, lying about such contact is allegedly illegal, as the Flynn case shows. So, did the Trump campaign or administration coalesce with Russians? Not sure yet. But, it also may true that the Clinton campaign made similar overtures to Russia, which represents, other WSJ writers have said, a particular misunderstanding of Russian’s aims – advance its own cause in the world, not cooperate with others.

From Peggy Noonan in the WSJ:  “Mr. Franken’s weakness as a political figure was having no sympathy for those who disagree with him, not bothering to understand how the other side thinks, while always claiming for himself the high moral ground. This now common attitude frays political bonds; once it was considered poor political comportment.”

Comment: Noonan also writes cogently about soon-to-be former U.S. Senator Al Franken. Franken had a number of faults, including the fact that his experience before being elected did not qualify him to be a U.S. senator. Nor did his belief that he always was right, claiming “the high moral ground” for himself. No aceptance for other views. His lack of comportment in his roles previous to being elected to Congress should have foretold to voters in Minnesota that he would be a very poor U.S. senator.

From hill.com:  “The U.S. labor market maintained steady growth in November, which is better than expectations with Congress on the cusp of passing the first massive tax package in decades.  Employers added 228,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate held at 4.1 percent, the lowest level since December 2000 when it was 3.9 percent, the Labor Department reported on Friday.”

Comment: Good news on the economic front. My view always has been that economic growth or stagnation is due to factors mostly beyond the direct control of political figures, either a governor in a state like Oregon or the president. Still, if the news is positive, politicians will try to take credit for it. If the news is not good, they will try to escape. In this case, the good news is that the private sector economy is performing well. Long may it last.

From Joe Scarborough in the Washington Post:  “Donald Trump spent much of 2016 questioning his opponent’s stamina to be president of the United States. But it is now Trump’s own fitness that is being scrutinized by friends and foes alike. After Trump spent recent weeks creating a level of chaos unseen around the White House since Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974, Capitol Hill politicians and media outlets are quietly questioning whether Trump is fit for the highest office in the land. That the commander in chief slurred his way through the end of a speech on Jerusalem was just the latest in a string of unsettling incidents.  Many who move through his orbit believe Trump is not well. That is a verdict that was reached long ago by many of the president’s own staff. More than a few politicians and reporters across Washington have shared similar fears.”

Comment: Scarborough may have various axes to grind, but his take on Trump’s fitness to be president – or lack of fitness – is, at best sobering. Problems with Trump have revolved around his mental fitness to be and act like a president. If physical limitations are added to the mix, it does not bode well for the future. What to do about it should be a source of concern for all of us.