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.

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Note: From my home in Salem, Oregon, I don’t usually write about international events, except, perhaps, when Donald Trump is involved and trips over his own tongue. That happened in Europe and especially in his press conference with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. So, I wrote about that, feeling better for having done so. And, with Trump’s mind-blogging explanation today, I felt compelled to express my thoughts again.

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Donald Trump, unusually so for him, tried to walk back what he said during the press conference with Vladimir Putin.

At the press conference, Trump said this in response to a direct question about whether he believed Russia had interfered in the presidential election that he, Trump, won”

“I will say this, I don’t see any reason why it would be Russia.”

Trump on Tuesday said that he had meant to say, “I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.”

Right!

Trump got caught in his own spin as, essentially, he threw his own intelligence interests under the bus in favor of Putin. Some of those who criticized him said he had committed treason, probably an overstatement, but, still, worthy of the shock value Trump’s comments produced.

The criticism, almost unremitting from both Republican and Democrat sources, apparently prompted the walk back.

I guess it’s good that Trump reversed course. Too bad he had to do so in the first place. It would have better he had he proceeded with more substance than swagger.