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.

One of the most experienced and credible reporters in Washington, D.C., Dan Balz, who writes for the Washington Post, put it this way in the hours after release of the long-awaited report from special counsel Robert Mueller:

“The Trump presidency long has been an exercise in normalizing extraordinary behavior, with President Trump repeatedly stretching the limits of what is considered appropriate conduct by the nation’s chief executive. The puts into high relief the degree to which President Trump has violated the norms.

“The principal focus of the special counsel’s investigation was on questions of criminality. But there is more than the issue of what rises to the level of criminal conspiracy or criminal obstruction when judging a president and his administration. These are questions that go to the heart of what is acceptable or normal or advisable in a democracy. On that basis, the Mueller report provides a damning portrait of the president and those around him for actions taken during the 2016 campaign and while in office.

“The 448-page document is replete with evidence of repeated lying by public officials and others (some of whom have been charged for that conduct), of the president urging not to tell the truth, of the president seeking to shut down the investigation, of a Trump campaign hoping to benefit politically from Russian hacking and leaks of information damaging to its opponent, of a White House in chaos and operating under

“It shows a White House where officials sometimes — but not always — resisted the president’s more nefarious orders and concludes that Trump was not able to influence the investigation as much as he wished because advisers declined to carry out some of those orders. It also suggests, despite his many claims to the contrary, that the president felt vulnerable to an investigation. When informed just months after taking office that a special counsel was to be appointed, Trump exclaimed that it would mean “’the end of my presidency.’”

Balz has it just right.

Trump may have escaped criminal charges, at least so far, but there is no way he can escape the Balz’ indictment.

Trump’s presidency is replete with lying, obfuscation and, as Balz puts it, “an exercise in normalizing extraordinary behavior, with President Trump repeatedly stretching the limits of what is considered appropriate conduct by the nation’s chief executive.”

For my part, character matters in a president and Trump has none. If good policy results have occurred on his watch as president, they have been due more to happenstance than solid work by Trump and those who work for him.

Hard to give Congress either because key figures there are appealing to their supposed bases than to the public interest.

Trump was not prepared for the presidency, thinking of the campaign in advance of 2016 as an infomercial for his Trump brand. No wonder he didn’t know what to do or how to conduct himself when he won.

I hope those who run in the 2020 election to unseat Trump will not hew so far left of center that they give aid and comfort to Trump. If they appeal to the wacko left, epitomized by Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Democrats will lose and so will the country.

No one knows if “we” will be able to endure four more years of the buffoon in the Oval Office. Perish the thought.

*****

And this footnote: I continue to be impressed with Attorney General William Barr. For all he criticism from certain Democrats, he knows what it means to be an Executive Branch leader. In his press conference today, he did not rise to the bait cast out by various reporters. He stuck to business rather than criticizing Democrats who have been eager to criticize him. His short answers to questions reminded of the late U.S. Senator Mike Mansfield from Montana. Years ago, he liked to answer long and detailed questions with one word answers. His best was just this word – “nope.” Great tactic.