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.

If anyone thought the election was over, it was not Donald Trump.

Most others who matter are moving on to consider the administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Not Trump and his sycophants — some of whom appear on such shows, entertainment shows, not news shows, as the one featuring Sean Hannity — continue to spew rhetoric to cast doubt on the election.

Here is a litany of Trump-led steps that are much worse for the future of our country, with American democracy literally at stake – much worse than talk show blabber:

• Trump refuses to concede the election and may never do so, thus having to be carried of the White House in January by the Secret Service and military.

• Trump refuses to allow his General Services Department secretary to confirm election results, a required first step on the path to enable the transition to proceed.

• Trump refuses to allow national security briefings for Biden, Harris and their staffs, thus preserving for himself access to classified information (and, pointedly, preserving the ability to fire Defense Department Secretary Mark Esper this week).

Of course, all of this illustrate that Trump, the narcissist, cannot tolerate being a loser.

Still, that’s what he is – not to mention was as he led a nation down the rat hole of division and dissension over the last four years.

Does all of this matter?  The answer is yes.

And the confirmation was provided by two persons who served as chief of staff for former presidents – Andrew Card for George Bush and John Podesta for Bill Clinton.

Under this headline in the Washington Post – “The life-threatening costs of a delayed transition” – they wrote about the risks of a lack of a genuine transition>

“We happened to find ourselves on opposing ends of the historic Bush v. Gore dispute in Florida in 2000, one of only four times in U.S. history when the outcome of a presidential election was too close to call.

“While we disagreed about many issues then and have disagreed since, we do agree on one thing:   The 2020 election is not like 2000 and should not be treated as such.

“Election night in 2000 was a blur of confusion. Each candidate had nearly enough electoral college votes to win.  Whoever won Florida would become the next president.  The networks called Florida for Vice President Al Gore, then called Florida for Bush, and then withdrew the call completely.  Gore initially conceded, but then retracted his concession, a first in U.S. history.  In the end, after the recount started and stopped, the two candidates were divided by a margin of just 537 votes in the one state which determined the election’s outcome.

“As a result, while Bush and key staff were provided full intelligence briefings, the Bush transition did not have access to federal agencies and resources for 37 long days.

“President-elect Joe Biden and his transition team should not suffer a similar delay.  The electoral landscape is simply not the same.  The outcome is not the same.  And we have since learned the serious costs of a delayed transition.”

What serious costs?

Well, only eight months after Bush’s inauguration, two planes flew into the World Trade Center, killing nearly 3,000 Americans.  Card had fateful duty to whisper into Bush’s ear, “America is under attack.”

When the 9/11 Commission finished its assessment on the attack, Card and Podesta said it found that the delayed transition “hampered the new administration in identifying, recruiting, clearing and obtaining Senate confirmation of key appointees in the national security arena.”

The commission also concluded that avoiding future disruptions in transitions was deeply in the national interest.

These days in 2020 which is very different than 2000, the delayed transition (it is fomented by Trump) will hinder economic recovery, slow the distribution of a vaccine and, could put American lives at risk.

Card and Podesta, who fought bitterly over the recount in 2000, said the grim realities of the pandemic underline that the transition process should begin now.

They should tell Trump and company in person.