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 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 point of this blog headline has struck me over the years, both when I worked for state government, as well as when I spent about 25 years as a private sector lobbyist here in Oregon.

I came to this conclusion:  You know political leadership when you see it.

Not when, in the absence of events, you try to define it.

So, consider the escalating tragedy of the Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East.

Amidst the incredible toll of human sacrifice, we saw two versions of political leadership in the last couple days, as the Middle East war continues to heat up.

One came from President Joe Biden as calculated by Washington Post editorial writers who said this:

“At a time when the United States, and the world, desperately need decency and moral clarity, President Biden has provided both.  His words regarding the wanton atrocities Hamas has committed against hundreds of Israeli civilians, as well as many Americans and citizens of other countries, in the past week have been unequivocal.

“In remarks to a gathering of American Jewish leaders Wednesday, he described the mass murder as ‘sheer evil’ and likened it to ‘the worst atrocities of ISIS.’

“In short, Biden has so far met the elementary test of political leadership amid crisis, as those who placed their trust in him at the ballot box three years ago hoped he could.”

Or consider Ben Sasse, a former U.S. senator from Nebraska who now is president of the University of Florida.

Here is what Post editorial writers said about Sasse who made his thoughts known in a letter to “Jewish Gators:”

“In the face of Hamas’s atrocities, some U.S. college administrators at first said little or issued equivocating mush, such as what Dartmouth College put out Tuesday in its ‘Statement on the Israel-Gaza War.’ A notable exception:  University of Florida President Ben Sasse.

What Sasse wrote:

“I will not tiptoe around this simple fact:  What Hamas did is evil and there is no defense for terrorism.  This shouldn’t be hard.  Sadly, too many people in elite academia have been so weakened by their moral confusion that, when they see videos of raped women, hear of a beheaded baby, or learn of a grandmother murdered in her home, the first reaction of some is to ‘provide context’ and try to blame the raped women, beheaded baby, or the murdered grandmother.

“In other grotesque cases, they express simple support for the terrorists.”

Like Biden, Sasse’s comments illustrate leadership.

He faced stern opposition when he was asked to leave the U.S. Senate to compete for the job to run the University of Florida, but now he stands out for his principled actions.

Speaking of principles, or the lack of them, consider this from one Donald Trump, as reported by the Post:

“In a reckless category of their own, however, were the comments of GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump.  To be sure, he labeled the Hamas attack a ‘disgrace’ shortly after it occurred — then pivoted to blaming it on Biden’s policies.

“That was about par for the partisan course, alas.  Yet, the former president went in a bizarre new direction by heaping scorn on Israel itself for failing to anticipate the attack and lecturing the Jewish state to ‘step up their game.’

“He labeled the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group ‘very smart,’ comparing it to an authoritarian he rates highly for ruling ‘1.4 billion people … with an iron fist:’  Chinese President Xi Jinping.”

The Post puts it right when it says, “The difficult days ahead will require rhetorical precision, empathy for victims, and strategic thinking about U.S. interests.  Real leaders rise to the occasion.”

Real leaders like Biden and Sasse.  Not Trump, who lowers himself every time he speaks.