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.

Almost every commentator is writing these days about President-Elect Joe Biden’s attempts to form his Administration more than a month before he takes over on January 20, 2021.

I add my voice to the mix, though I have no inside information on any of this from my post in the cheap seats out West.  I just have a few observations.

The good news so far:

• The nominees represent diversity of thought, opinion and ethnicity.

• The nominees are committed to the success of the Biden-Harris Administration rather than just their own standing, thus evoking trust which is necessary between a president and those who for him or her.  Nor will the nominees be expected to bow at the altar of the President as was the case with Donald Trump’s appointees.

• The nominees have experience in their areas of responsibility, which, it seems to me, should be a major credential given what is at stake for our country.

In each of these ways, Biden’s nominations illustrate a stark change from Trump who nominated many persons unqualified for the jobs they accepted.  And, if those he hired did not express fealty to Trump, he fired them, sometimes, incredibly, by a tweet, as was the case a few weeks ago when Defense Department Director Mark Esper departed.

None of this suggests that it will be clear sailing for Biden’s nominees when the time comes for Senate confirmation in what is likely to be a chamber controlled by Republicans.

In some cases, Republicans may hold grudges for how they believed Democrats opposed Trump’s nominees.

In other cases, there will be more genuine issues, including those related to Biden’s nomination of retired General Lloyd Austin to be Secretary of the Department of Defense.  Some senators contend that the department should be led by an experienced civilian, not a retired military leader.  The theory is that military should not have such great influence over its own future.

To get Austin over the confirmation hurdle, Biden will first have to get Congress to pass a waiver to allow a recently-retired military leader to take the helm at Defense.  Such a waiver was granted to retired General Jim Mattis when he first served as Defense Department director under Trump.  It may be a challenge to get a waiver approved a second time so soon after the first.

But that procedural hurdle should not blur Austin’s credentials – his vast experience, his knowledge of the inner-workings of Defense Department, the value of his long-standing service to the country, and the fact that he happens to be Black, which will make him the first person of his ethnicity to hold the Defense Department job if he is confirmed.

Sounds like I know Austin.  I don’t.  So, to support him, I rely on the judgment of one of my friends, retired Colonel Ricky Love who served along side Austin in the Middle East and knows the retired general to be, as they say in military jargon, “squared away.”

On a different point, given my health care lobbying background, I also have paid attention to the nomination of Xavier Becerra, current attorney general in California and a former Member of Congress, to direct the Department of Health and Human Services.

He is a staunch defender of the Affordable Care Act, sometimes called ObamaCare, having opposed various Trump Administration efforts to tear down the law.  That, frankly, is a solid credential, though it will be the exact reason why some Senate Republicans will oppose him.

His task will be lead efforts to build on the Affordable Care Act, not tear it down.

In part, Republicans who oppose Becerra will do so at the peril of irritating the Latino community, which will wholeheartedly support Becerra as one of their own.

In all of this, I wish that Biden would receive from Congress what most new presidents do, which is give him a chance to govern by forming his administration without throwing up partisan obstacles to nominees for Cabinet jobs.