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.

I pledged earlier that I would avoid writing any longer about one Donald Trump.

Well, either I changed my mind or I lied.  And, if the latter, then I am following hard on the heels of Trump, the biggest liar ever to occupy the Oval Office.

Today, I mention one of my favorite subjects, “words matter” – and note how words will change in American governance as the Biden Administration takes over on January 2021.  In the course of what I write, there is no option other than to draw a contrast with Trump.

Now, with Biden, we no longer will have to tolerate Trump’s lack of vocabulary, his inherent tendency to misspell words, or his devotion to finding scapegoats for any perceived slight.  We got a new dose of his inability to use good words when he went on a 46-minute rant a day ago, then translated the rant into a tweet.

No more, I say.

Shortly after the New Year dawns, we’ll have a president who knows how to use words.  So will his staff, including a press secretary and a communications director.  Both are professionals.  Biden has appointed credentialed persons to those and many other jobs in his new administration.

The “words matter” proposition was driven home for me this week by an essay written by Ross M. Wallenstein, vice president of J Strategies, a communications and government relations firm with offices in New York City, Albany, and Boston.  It appeared on-line in a post sent to me by one of my former partners in CFM Advocates – a partner who, himself, was and is skilled at using words.

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Here are the first paragraphs of what Wallenstein wrote:

“Regardless of party, all Americans should rejoice in one result of the 2020 elections:  The return of well-planned, positive, carefully crafted presidential messaging and traditional media operations.

“On Monday, November. 9, just 48 hours after winning the election, President-Elect Joe Biden released a simple, yet effective statement, which extolled the announcement from Pfizer that its COVID-19 vaccine is predicted to be 90 per cent effective.

“Biden’s 232 words struck the right tone of excitement, tempered optimism and pragmatic realism.  It reminded Americans that the fight against the virus is far from over and the best protection against it remains the careful pursuit of science.  It ended with the following:

“America is still losing over 1,000 people a day from COVID-19, and that number is rising — and will continue to get worse unless we make progress on masking and other immediate actions. That is the reality for now, and for the next few months. Today’s announcement promises the chance to change that next year, but the tasks before us now remain the same.”

At the same time, Wallenstein said Trump performed his usual off-based ritual, which was that, in two tweets totaling 51 words, he fired his Defense Secretary, Mark Esper.  Apparently, Esper had not been sufficiently local to Trump.

Wallenstein writes that the tone of the dueling statements could not have been more striking.

“I have been a student of history and a lover of words for as long as I can remember,” he says.  “’The better angels of our nature…,’ ‘… nothing to fear but fear itself…’ and ‘… ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country…’ are not empty rhetoric uttered by the temporary holders of a constitutional office.  Rather, they are examples of the best our country has had to offer at the times when we needed them the most.”

Can you imagine Trump uttering any of those words?  I cannot.

Using right and good words won’t solve every daunting public policy problem a president will face.  But good words, well used, can influence public opinion.

More from Wallenstein:

“Past president have been mindful of this fact for decades.  Beginning with Herbert Hoover, who established the press secretary position, the public relations of a White House have been full-time endeavors. His successor, Franklin Roosevelt, ever mindful of the power of his own words, transformed the media operations by hosting press conferences in the Oval Office and conducting his famous fireside chats.

“Since 2016, the American people have seen the direct, forceful version of political messaging.  Instead of long press conferences or daily briefings, Trump used his personal Twitter account (often re-tweeted by the official White House account instead of publishing own original content) to communicate directly with his followers and the media, which amplifies his messages free of charge.

“There is an undeniable cost to that delivery method.

“While Americans have been treated for the first time to the unfiltered thoughts of the president, we have also been spared the complexity of issues and the nuance of their ramifications.  Press statements or primetime Oval Office speeches designed to calm stock markets or quell a riled citizenry—of our country and the world—have been traded for the inflammatory tweets.”

With Biden, whether I agree with him or not, I will welcome thought and effort that once again will go into White House communications.  Instead of tweets, we will see 1,000-word statements or detailed press releases explaining a subject in full, while offering information, context and clarity to the American people – all with good words.

And, that’s a good thing.