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 (Les AuCoin), 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 could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

As a 40-year veteran of politics, it would be logical to believe it would not be possible for me to grow teary over an election result.  After all, I have seen too many of them up close and personal.

But, last night was different.

With tears in my eyes, I watched President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Dlect Kamala Harris address a throng of supporters in Biden’s home state, Delaware.

• Possibilities.

• Decency.

• Truth.

• Empathy.

Good words. 

Good words that would never have been uttered by Donald Trump who continues to eschew the normal rite of conceding defeat for the good the country and enabling a solid transition of power.

The reality is that he may have to be evicted from the White House.

So it was that, as Biden and Harris gave what amounted to victory speeches, I had tears in my eyes.

They have an unbelievably tough job to turn the country from indecency and division to decency and cooperation – and, as Biden put, to avoid viewing opponent as enemies, for they are all Americans.

Events of the last hours, verify that Biden and Harris have the wherewithal to pull off the recovery task if, as Biden said, all of us as Americans demonstrate the ability to choose cooperation over confrontation.

To commemorate this new day in America (despite what will surely be Trump’s intention to disavow defeat), I cite these paragraphs from commentators.

FROM THE LEAD WASHINGTON POST STORY ON THE ELECTION RESULT:  “Although transitions of power can always include abrupt changes, the shift from Trump to Biden — from one president who sought to undermine established norms and institutions to another who has vowed to restore the established order — will be among the most startling in American history.”

FROM COLUMNIST DANA MILBANK IN THE WASHINGTON POST:  “Donald Trump has lost the presidency.   Americans have sent packing the man who made the lives of so many a hell for the past four years with constant chaos, unbridled vitriol and attacks on the foundations of democracy. There may be difficulty in the days ahead because of (gratuitous) court challenges and (baseless) claims of fraud. The rage he has induced in supporters and opponents alike will take time to dissipate. But for a moment, let us rejoice: Our democracy has survived.”

FROM WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL WRITERS:  “Biden’s victory — and Trump’s defeat — is a testament to the resilience of American democracy.  In other countries, at other times, bullies like Trump have succeeded in becoming strongmen by promising security from dangerous outsiders, demonizing cultural elites and sowing enough confusion and apathy that people failed to resist the slide into illiberalism.

“Trump tried all of these tactics.  But Americans resisted. They did so in an overwhelming yet orderly fashion, at the ballot box, when it was their turn to have another say, despite the fact that Trump and his allies adopted a strategy of disenfranchisement when they realized they could not win fairly.

“They answered his four years of divisiveness by electing a woman — a woman of color — to be vice-president for the first time in the nation’s history.  Citizens in unprecedented numbers stood in line for hours to vote, starting weeks before Election Day.”

After celebrating the election win, Biden and Harris face daunting tasks that will focus first on controlling the coronavirus, then turn to stimulating economic growth.  Sources say they also will move to rejoin the Paris climate accords, to reverse Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization, to repeal the ban on almost all travel from some Muslim-majority countries, to reinstate the program allowing “dreamers,” who were brought to the United States illegally as children, to remain in the country.

Back to the word “possibilities,” a keynote of Biden’s victory speech.  Nothing illustrates the word more clearly than the rise of the first Black women from an immigrant family to the second highest political office in the land.

“While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” Harris, wearing all white, said to raucous applause (as she joined Biden on the victory podium.

“Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.”

I say “possibilities,” too as we embark on a task to renew America’s spirit and inspiration.