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 to 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 press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon, as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as 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: The fact that I am able to post this blog this morning indicates something important about me: I did not watch either of the so-called “debates” among Democrat contenders for presidentin 2020 – either Wednesday’s event involving the first 10 or last night’s event for the remaining 10. So, it is hard to comment on the inane character of the events, tough I guess I just did with the word “inane.” Did voters learning anything through the process? I suspect the answer is a resounding no.

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The word “spinning” got another high-profile mention a few weeks ago as Democrats in Congress accused Attorney General William Barr of spinning as he released and commented on the Mueller Report.

Democrats, of course, wanted the Mueller Report to do something it didn’t do, which is proposing to charge President Donald Trump with crimes, including obstruction of justice. Because, for better or worse, it didn’t do that, the Ds were incensed and prepared to lambaste Barr for doing what they always do, which is to spin.

For now, I’ll leave assessments of Barr’s conduct to others (though, I add that, from my post in the cheap seats out West, I generally laud Barr’s performance i the Mueller Report issue and other matters).

What I will do is comment on the word “spinning.”

Here, first, is the dictionary definition of the term: 

“To give (a news story or other information) a particular interpretation, especially a favorable one.”

So, if only based on this definition, the fact is that everyone spins. To put a point on it, critics of spinning are spinning.

Here some examples.

For newspapers, it’s all the news that fits, not necessarily all the news that’s fit to print. I say this as a former reporter for daily newspaper. The challenge was to write stories that fit into the otherwise-empty space.

Plus, reporters were told to write “in the inverted pyramid style,” so, if only for space reasons, their stories could be cut from the bottom up, with the important facts first.

Consider radio and television stations. What they produce as what they call news is limited by the time of the broadcast, not to mention the need to save time for advertising.

Or, public officials, do they spin? Yes. All the time.

In fact, over my 25 years in the firm I co-founded, CFM Strategic Communications, we usually advised clients to put their best foot forward. Provide information that, if possible and accurate, reflected positively on their enterprise. Call this spinning.

As for political analysts and columnists, they spin, too, if only to limit the words they write to the space available, but also to stimulate readership and viewership.

Finally, the fact is that those who criticize spinning are spinning themselves.

So, if we all do it, why is spinning sometimes viewed as bad?

Well, sometimes, the bad part of spinning is when the spin is designed, as in the case of President Trump, to tear someone down in what can only be called “the politics of personal destruction.” That’s what Trump does for a living.

And, unfortunately, those on the other side spin too in an attempt to criticize someone or put someone on the defensive. Not just to advance their own cause, but to derail someone’s else by the use of pejorative names and ridicule.

Spinning is also bad when it is patently and objectively false. Again, Trump is the best (or is it worst?) example of using no accurate facts as he tweets (and, unfortunately, reporters hang on every word in those tweets).

From her post on the far left, not even on any political spectrum, U.S. Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez gives Trump a run for his money on any criteria related to spinning to slam someone else or resort to outright falsehoods.

To all of this: Recognize spinning it for what it is – an attempt to put your best foot forward. And, on the personal destruction or falsehood type of spinning, ignore it.