NOTE: THIS IS INSTALLMENT TWO ON THIS SUBJECT

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.

I wrote yesterday about the subject of political leadership, suggesting that, if there is one salient fact about it, it is this: You know leadership when you see it as opposed to when someone says they have it.

It is easy to talk about leadership. It takes effort, commitment and ingenuity to display it.

During my 40 years of involvement in politics, I have seen what I would label credible political leadership. In that time, I developed a few perceptions about leadership credentials, which I will share in this blog.

I was motivated to deal with this subject, frankly, by what I see in the current occupant of Oval Office in Washington, D.C., one Donald Trump who demonstrates exactly none of qualities I list below.

I also think the traits I list below apply in general, but assume even greater importance during a challenging time, such as we are in now in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

So, here is my list of key political leadership traits, which is identical to what I wrote yesterday, except that I have been specific this time around about how Trump possesses none of the traits.  Just call him an easy target.

INTEGRITY: Without honesty and a sense of ethical behavior, there can be no qualified leader.

The dictionary defines integrity as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.”

Look only at Trump. He tells an untold number of lies every day with no recognition of the consequences.

ACCOUNTABILITY: Without accountability, there can be no qualified leader.

A lot of politicians who suggest they are leaders are adept at pointing the finger at everyone else rather than taking responsibility for their own actions.

Look only at Trump. As second nature, he practices the blame game.

This is the way columnist Dana Milbank put in it in the Washington Post:

“Trump came to power on the basis of smears — against opponents, immigrants and minorities. Now he prepares to center his re-election campaign on demonizing China, even though he repeatedly praised China’s response to the virus, specifically that of his ‘very, very good friend,’ Chinese President Xi Jinping. Key to this attack is making a scapegoat of the World Health Organization, which fits his usual criteria because, like the U.N. and the World Trade Organization, it is an international entity run by a foreigner.”

COMPROMISE: Ability to find middle ground should be one goal of a political leader who understands that anything good in politics is a tribute to people working together, not to any one person.

But beyond talk, a leader must be able to provide concrete examples of when he or she was able to bring disparate parties together to produce solutions.

Look only at Trump. He does not recognize compromise because he always, in his own mind, as a narcissist, is the smartest person in any room and, thus, does not pay attention to the thoughts of anyone else.

COMMUNICATION: Any good leader demonstrates the ability to communicate his or her thoughts in a way that generates understanding, and perhaps even support.

A leader must be able to speak in complete sentences that convey coherent messages, as well as to invite conversations and exchanges that prompt him or her to expand their horizons beyond what they may know themselves.

Look only at Trump. His vocabulary is so limited that he has trouble stringing words together in a sentence that makes sense. And he demonstrates no interest in listening to views other than his own.

EMPATHY: Any good leader demonstrates the ability to share the feelings of those he or she represents.

A leader must have the courage to show emotion and feeling in the midst of tragedy and be able to console in response to pain and suffering.

Look only at Trump. In the current coronavirus pandemic, he has squandered any opportunity to express any genuine concern for the plight of those who have experienced dislocation, if not worse, in the current pandemic. To fail at this is to fail at a central function of the presidency.

HUMILITY: Any good leader demonstrates the ability to accept responsibility for mistakes, admit political failures, and acknowledge their own contributions to a problem.

A leader must be able to say, “I am not perfect. I’ve made decisions that, with the benefit of hindsight, may not have been the best. But I have learned through these situations, which will influence how I interact with others and make decisions in the future.”

A leader also must be smart enough and savvy enough to know what he or she does NOT know and decisive enough to surround themselves with others who can fill in the gaps.

Such self-effacing ability does not risk leadership; instead, it supports it.

Look only at Trump. He is never responsible for anything that doesn’t work out as planned…as if Trump, a seat-of-the-pants operator, makes advance plans for anything. He doesn’t.

In hill.com yesterday, columnist Niall Stange wrote this:

“Trust in President Trump’s ability to deal with the coronavirus crisis — and even to impart reliable information about it — is eroding, posing a significant danger to his re-election hopes.

“In several polls, the share of the population that finds Trump trustworthy on the crisis is lower than his overall job approval number — an indication that the lack of public trust cannot be attributed only to the nation’s partisan divide.

“The fact that concerns about Trump’s accuracy are felt beyond the ranks of his ideological foes could be a political time-bomb as the nation begins to grapple with the tough question of when to begin reopening.”

Or this from Washington Post political columnist David Byler:

”If Trump wins a second term, Americans will understandably start to see him as the new normal. Attacks on the press, Twitter outbursts, constant lying, authoritarian saber-rattling, complete incompetence, disregard for expertise — all these features of Trumpism will be permanent parts of our politics.”

Here’s hoping the lack-of-trust factor brings Trump down.