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.

The word in this headline is nearly all I can muster as I have reflected for several hours now on this twin reality:  Donald Trump is no longer president and Joe Biden is now president.

Well, as the following will attest, not “all I can muster,” but a fitting one word expression of my view about what has happened in the last hours.

In the last couple weeks, my blog has counted down how many more days we, as Americans, would have to endure the worst president in history, one who perverted the U.S. Constitution for his own ends and then, only two weeks ago now, provoked a mob to take over the Capitol in an insurrection to overturn the election he lost.

Yesterday, I noted that Biden took the oath of office at 8:50 a.m. Pacific time.  It was about 10 minutes earlier than the appointed 9 a.m. hour.

And, I also noted that the briefcase with nuclear code numbers in it wouldn’t transfer from Trump to Biden until 9:01 a.m.

Good that, even in those 10 or 11 minutes, Trump did not push the button.

Without repeating the myriad analyses by various commentators, here are a few impressions from me as I welcome the Biden Administration and hope for a return to a long-held American form of governance that had been lost by Trump – intentionally lost.

• All of those who used words in the inauguration – those who prayed, those who sang, the Youth Poet Laureate, and Biden himself — struck the right chords.  Unity above enmity.

• This will be tough to achieve especially for those citizens who still believe the election was stolen by Biden.  But, in his excellent inaugural address, Biden did what he could to appeal to those persons by saying that he would listen to them, as well as set out “to be the president for all Americans, not just the ones who voted for me.”

• Outgoing Vice President Mike Pence showed just a bit of class when he showed up for the inauguration.  Looking back, it could be possible to say that he should have countered Trump earlier than just in the last days of Trump, but I suspect his die was cast when he took the vice president job in the first place.

• Simply by standing just where she was – taking the oath on the Capitol steps next to Biden – Kamala Harris set a new example of progress in this country.  I imagine that many children of color or of immigrant background – both boys and girls, but especially girls – could see something new in America for them.  Call it possibility.

On this score, if you want to get to the core, read some of the letters young people, including people of color, wrote to Harris as she prepared for the inauguration.  Doing so will bring a tear to your eye as it did to mine.

• If you wanted an immediate example of possibility, look no farther than Amanda Gordon, the Youth Poet Laureate, who delivered very impressively on the stage.  It would not be surprising to see her rise again, perhaps even on the same steps.

I have said before that the test of any presidential administration for me should not be whether I agree with every action taken by that administration.  I won’t.  But, so what?  That’s America where, as Biden said, the freedom to disagree is one of our most important hallmarks.

At least one test for me will be whether an administration is honest, ethical, empathetic, and dignified. 

That is what we stand to get with Biden and Harris.

And, one other thing we’ll get with Biden and Harris:  A willingness to plow the middle ground when prevailing on one side or the other is not possible.  Biden is a practiced hand at bi-partisanship and he’ll need all of his skills to negotiate with a Congress that is close to being split down the middle.

I wish success for Biden and Harris because their success will be our success as Americans.

AND THIS IMPORTANT FOOTNOTE

As I finish writing this, I just returned from watching the Celebrate America special on the inauguration.  If you can find a way to watch it, do so.  It is an aspirational reminder of what America can be if, as Joe Biden says, “we work together.”