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.

Regular readers of this blog – both of them – know that I am a political junkie. 

I relish the experience of watching government in action.  However, these days, that activity comes with a growing awareness of how far American government has fallen from producing the best for the country.  Often, it produces dissension, disagreement, and antagonism.

So it was that, for the last three days, I have returned home from playing golf to watch the Senate confirmation for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson.

So far, she has had to endure three full days of comments by senators on the Judiciary Committee.  Republicans there have impugned her character in ways that illustrate they want to “get even” with Democrats for how members of that party were alleged to have trashed the reputations of previous nominees for the Supreme Court proposed by Republican presidents.

Note at least one problem with the “get even” strategy.  It continues forever.  There is always another chance to get even.

As Judge Jackson prepares for more time in the hot seat, here are a few perceptions from me about what has gone on so far – and, remember, as I write this, I have no specific experience in confirmations for justices of the Supreme Court. 

[In the spirit of full disclosure, I have sat for confirmations in Oregon when I have been nominated for positions on State Commissions, but that, to put it mildly, is in no way comparable to what we are seeing in Washington, D.C.]

• On Tuesday, topics aired included her decisions on child-pornography cases, the abortion-rights precedent in Roe v. Wade, her sentiment on the academic concept known as “critical race theory,” and whether her judicial philosophy reflected a will to re-make the law in ways that go beyond the Constitution as understood when drafted.

• According to the Wall Street Journal, she “treaded carefully” around attempts by Texas Senator John Cornyn to pin her down on whether she would seek to expand existing federal rights by deciding that some rights were implied in the Constitution.  She said that, under Supreme Court precedents, “the kinds of things that qualify are implicit in the concept of ordered liberty or are deeply rooted in our country’s history and tradition.”

As an aside, it was interesting to note how Cornyn phrased his questions for the nominee.  Rather than asking a question, he usually started this way – “would you agree with me that….”  Judge Jackson managed to avoid falling into that trap, declining to align herself with Cornyn’s words.

• Democrats’ first order of business was to give Judge Jackson a platform to rebut allegations first made by Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, who on Monday criticized her for imposing what he alleged were a series of lenient criminal sentences against child-pornography offenders.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Judge Jackson.  A mother of two daughters, she said she had properly applied the relevant statute. “That statute doesn’t say ‘impose the highest possible penalty for this sickening and egregious crime,’” she said.

• Then, Texas Senator Ted Cruz got into the act.  He pressed Judge Jackson on “critical race theory,” which is an academic theory that holds the legacy of white supremacy remains embedded in modern society through laws and institutions that were fundamental in shaping America.

Judge Jackson did a good job of parrying Cruz’ thrust, which, of course, coming from him, sounds more like an appeal to White supremacy than anything else. 

For my part, having looked recently at descriptions of “critical race theory,” I don’t align myself with the any political interest group that has rallied around or against the phrase.  I believe, however, that it is right and just to look at history, as well as current events, with a candid eye to view racist impulses, intentional or unintentional.

All of us are at risk of having subtle tendencies to view races other than our own with incorrect assumptions, perceptions, or biases.  Being alert for them is important.

• The ”get even” impulse arose when South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham claimed that Democrats had previously smeared Amy Coney Barrett — who was nominated by former Republican President Donald Trump — over her Catholic religion, and said he was so angry that Biden had passed over Judge Michelle Childs of South Carolina for the post that he was having trouble with the current nomination.

Overall, Judge Jackson, after three days of being in the hot seat, appears to be able to see the best in America.  In one speech several years ago, she invoked Martin Luther King, Jr. to describe how her family had risen from deep poverty.

From the Wall Street Journal:  “The fact that we had come this far, was, to me, a testament to the hope and the promise of this country, the greatness of America, that in one generation — one generation — we could go from racially segregated schools in Florida, to have me sitting here as the first Floridian ever to be nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States.

“Among my many blessings — and indeed, the very first — is the fact that I was born in this great country.  The United States of America is the greatest beacon of hope and democracy the world has ever known.”

I say, take Judge Jackson at her word, give her credit for her legal credentials and elevate her to the Supreme Court where she belongs.