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.

This is one of four departments I run with a free hand to manage as I see fit because, you see, I am a management guru.

The others are the Department of Pet Peeves, the Department of “Just Saying,” and the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering.

So inquiring minds want to know:

1.  How do cardiologists do what they do?

I ask this question based on my experience with very capable cardiologists who work for the Oregon Heart Center here in Salem, Oregon.

One, Dr. Kevin Thompson, takes care of me and he has done a great job over the years.  We are not just “patient and doctor;” we are friends.

The other is Dr. Raghu Kamenini, who has taken care of my wife recently.  He also is positive in disposition and outlook.

What impresses me most:  On a routine basis, these two – plus their colleagues – regularly insert stents into hearts to save lives.  Often, they go through the wrist and up into the heart, conducting an angio-gram if that is indicated, but, then based on what they find, inserting a stent immediately if that, too, is indicated.

If not through the wrist, they go through the groin.

Don’t ask me how they do what they do.  For them, it’s routine.

But for patients, it is anything but routine.  So, it is great to have quality cardiologists on your side as we do here in Salem.

• How does John Kirby manage the ins and outs of commenting on the Israel-Hamas war?

Who is John Kirby?

He is the public spokesman for the federal National Security Council and has been joining President Joe Biden’s regular press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, to brief the press on two wars — the Israel-Hamas War and the War in Ukraine.

A retired rear admiral, he has been a commanding presence in the briefing room because he has kept messaging clear and straightforward, a tall task when it comes to reporters and editors who are at least skeptical of government, if not cynical.

Error! Filename not specified.After another day of crisis in Gaza last month, a reporter asked John Kirby in a White House press briefing whether President Biden’s support of Israel’s military response against Hamas constituted support for “genocide” against Palestinians.

According to the Washington Post, he said, for example, “that the word, ‘genocide,’ is getting thrown around in a pretty inappropriate way by lots of different folks.  What Hamas wants, make no mistake about it, is genocide.  They want to wipe Israel off the map.  If we’re going to start using that word, fine. Let’s use it appropriately.”

From the Post:  “It was a typical Kirby response:  Direct, plain-spoken and unmistakably supportive of the Administration’s pro-Israeli policies.”

All of this called to mind for me a role I had more than 40 years ago, serving as press secretary for Oregon Governor Vic Atiyeh.  Of course, the stakes were lower – for the governor, I was not commenting on any war, nor was I in Washington, D.C.

But, here in Salem, Oregon, I tried purposefully to measure my words as to accuracy and honesty so there would be little room for misapprehending the views of the governor.

Kirby has a job these days that almost no one would want.  And I continue to be impressed by his top-level performance.