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 manager for all seasons, I run three departments – the Department of Pet Peeves, the Department of ”just Saying,” and the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering.

This is the latter.  It is open again. 

And, given my supreme power, there are various prospects for inclusion.  Each is totally within my power to cite.

Here they are:

FROM THE WASHINGTON POST/  “It [the response to the pandemic) fits a pattern that stretches back decades: Many of the biggest technological breakthroughs in American history have not sprung from the private sector. They have instead been the result of collaboration between private companies and the federal government.”

Comment:  Well said – or, rather, well written.  Good things can happen if the government and the private sector work together for the good of the public, which does not happen enough these days.

FROM THE NEW YORK POST/  “Business owners in Queens, New York, are reportedly furious at Democrats and especially Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), after she and colleagues chased Amazon out of the city, which is now struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“Almost two years after Amazon pulled out from a proposal to build a massive headquarters along the Queens waterfront, the site is a vacant eyesore — and, to many locals, the squandered economic opportunity is even more painful amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“The world’s largest e-tailer abruptly canceled its projected 25,000 job-producing campus in February 2019 after being taken aback by ferocious opposition from local pols — including Democratic socialist Representative Ocasio-Cortez and State Senator Mike Gianaris.”

Comment:  Such is the stupidity of Ocasio-Cortex and her ilk.  They turn their back on thousands of jobs, including with good benefits.  Not just the value of having a job, but just think of the tax revenue jobs produce.  Amazon’s second headquarters would have produced solid economic stimuli.

FROM THE ATLANTIC/  “By making himself synonymous with the party, by blocking the emergence of rivals, by putting the party on the wrong side of democracy, and by replacing ideas with disinformation, Donald Trump is not leading the Republican Party so much as holding it hostage.  He and his supporters can block but not build.  They are spoilers who can foment chaos, encourage radicalism, divide the polity, and stymie rivals, but they cannot construct a coherent agenda or forge the post-Trump future.

“To assess the legacy of Donald Trump’s presidency, start by quantifying it.  Since last February, more than a quarter of a million Americans have died from COVID-19—a fifth of the world’s deaths from the disease, the highest number of any country.  In the three years before the pandemic, 2.3 million Americans lost their health insurance, accounting for up to 10,000 ‘excess deaths;’ millions more lost coverage during the pandemic.

“The United States’ score on the human-rights organization Freedom House’s annual index dropped from 90 out of 100 under President Barack Obama to 86 under Trump, below that of Greece and Mauritius.  Trump withdrew the U.S. from 13 international organizations, agreements, and treaties.

“The number of refugees admitted into the country annually fell from 85,000 to 12,000.  About 400 miles of barrier were built along the southern border.  The whereabouts of the parents of 666 children seized at the border by U.S. officials remain unknown.”

Comment:  Such is the legacy of Donald Trump, easily the worst president in U.S. history.

FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL/  “Two rare events occurred this week and no one alive is likely to see either of them again.

“The first was the celestial conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, in which the planets appeared closer together than they have in almost 400 years.

“The second was a sincere political apology.

“General Gustave Perna, head of Operation Warp Speed, apologized for miscalculating the number of doses of anti-Covid vaccine available to the states. Listening to Perna’s apology, one thought:  Gee, he actually means it.

Comment:  The Wall Street Journal has it right.  Genuine political apologies are relatively infrequent.  They should occur more often – and, as voters, we should accept an apology if it appears to be given in a real, genuine way, including what a public figures hopes to learn from a mistake.