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.

You may notice that this department – one of two I run (the other is the Department of Pet Peeves) – is open a lot. That’s because there are a lot of good quotes worth remembering – and which draw my comments.

So here goes again.

From the Washington Post:   “For most of the year, people inside and outside Washington have been convinced that there is a strategy behind Mr. Trump’s actions. But there is seldom a plan apart from pre-emption, self-defense, obsession and impulse.”

Comment: Trump operates in ways that confound both his supporters and detractors. By tweeting all the time, he compromises his own agenda….if it is even possible to suggest that he has an agenda. If these were only personal flaws, they would be halfway acceptable. But the trouble is that his impulses go much farther and actually risk war.

And this from the Post:  “Armed with Twitter and fueled by Diet Coke, the president spends at least four hours a day — and sometimes as much as twice that — in front of a TV.”

Comment: Sounds like Trump doesn’t it? Spending time before a TV to see how many mentions he gets an hour is just like the nation’s leading narcisscist.

From a Washington Post interview with Washington Governor Jay Inslee, the new chair of the Democrat Governors’ Association: “We need to talk about jobs.  People will figure out for themselves that they have to stand up to Donald Trump. They’re doing that without us saying a word. That’s not our communications strategy. We want to communicate about jobs and the economy. The other thing just happens organically.”

Comment: Inslee makes a good comment. I often wonder why more politicians don’t run on a jobs platform. Having a job contributes greatly to self-esteem. Plus, it is usually much better than existing on the government dole.

From Michael Gerson in the Washington Post: “The problem of our time is not only arrogance without accomplishment or swagger without success. These are common enough in politics. Rather, it is the arrival of leadership that survives by feeding resentment, hatred and disorienting flux. Leadership urging us — at angry rallies, in ethnic stereotyping, through religious bigotry — to forget who we really are as a people. Leadership that has ceased to believe in the miracle at our country’s heart — the inclusive, unifying power of American ideals.

Comment: This quote confirms for me that Gerson is one of the best opinion writers these days. Those, like Trump, who feed on resentment, hatred and disorientation contribute to a loss of meaning of what it means to be an American in America. I wish for a return to what Gerson calls “the miracle at our country’s heart – the inclusive, unifying power of American ideals.” Won’t happen under Trump.