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.

Call it what you will, we, as Americans, were treated last night to a debacle.

On one side, was President Donald Trump speaking from the Oval Office and asking Americans to support his plea for a wall to separate Mexico from the U.S. – a wall that wouldn’t do much of anything, except exist.

On the other side, were two harsh-looking Congressional leaders from the left – new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Both looked list parents upset with their child – Trump.

Nothing new was said last night.

Point-counterpoint. He said – she said. One good – or bad – turn deserves another.

And, a key word in the current debacle – compromise – was hardly uttered by either side. True, Trump did use the word, but I have no idea about what he means. To him, compromise may be giving him all that he wants.

As Wall Street Journal editorial writers put it:

“The obvious deal is for Democrats to provide border money to Mr. Trump in return for legal status for Dreamer immigrants and others like Haitians on temporary visas facing deportation soon. But neither side showed any interest in such common sense on Tuesday. Back to your regularly scheduled political morass.”

I was fortunate last night. I didn’t watch the “show.”

But I did read the Washington Post this morning to get two takes on the national “addresses,” if you could call what was said “addresses.”

From Post columnist Marc Thiessen:

“The president did not unilaterally declare a national emergency. Instead, he called for compromise and said, ‘To those who refuse to compromise in the name of border security, I would ask: imagine if it was your child, your husband, or your wife, whose life was so cruelly shattered and totally broken?’

“He was, in short, presidential.

“Democrats insisted on equal time, which is highly unusual for presidential addresses other than the State of the Union. It was a mistake. In contrast to Trump, Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer came across as small and intransigent.”

Or, this counterpoint from another Post columnist, Jennifer Rubin:

“The only thing surprising about President Trump’s address from the Oval Office on Tuesday night was how totally unnecessary and un-newsworthy it was. Trump did not declare he was reopening the government. He did not issue an “emergency” declaration. He did not even offer any new arguments for a border wall that voters say they don’t want for a crisis that doesn’t exist. Instead, he delivered a weak, unconvincing promise to sit down with Democrats. Never has he looked so helpless and small.

“In short, the president snookered the networks into giving him free time to commune with his base. They should not make that mistake again.”

Make your own decision about this continuing debacle in Washington, D.C. I have tendered my own view by using the word “debacle.”

My fond hope – probably not to be realized any time soon – is that juveniles now in charge in the Nation’s Capitol would begin acting like mature adults.  Find middle ground.