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.

For those of us who are political junkies – yes, I am one – this is a big week.

It is the week the president will deliver the annual “State of the Union” address.

This time, what’s ahead is a huge opportunity for President Joe Biden.  Before a joint session of Congress and a national audience, he gets a chance to describe the state of the country he leads.

The address, of course, will contain both substantive policy issues, as politics, especially this time with a national election only a few months away.

Washington Post editorial writers went on record this week under this headline:  “Give ’em hell, Joe – and keep the State of the Union shortest.”

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“Previewing Thursday’s State of the Union address, the White House says President Biden plans to claim credit for ‘getting more done in his first three years than most presidents have accomplished in two terms.’

“That’s a debatable claim, but he’s keen to talk about funding infrastructure, industrial policy, lowering drug prices, and fighting junk fees.

“His most important legacy, however, will be defeating President Donald Trump in 2020.  And if he’s going to do it again in 2024, he shouldn’t squander his biggest televised audience of the year by delivering another box-checking laundry list that drags on more than an hour.”

Recent “State of the Union” address have checked that box, going on and on, thus losing interest.

Some of this arose when Bill Clinton was president.  For one thing, he loved to talk – and he did incessantly.  The trend continued under Barack Obama when, like a couple of his predecessors, he invited various individuals to attend whom he could praise for their work, including, in some cases, selfless sacrifice in the military.

The ploy worked.  After all, it’s often a good idea to illustrate a policy by a real-life example.

But, too often, the tactic got shopworn.

Biden may do the same this week.

But the Post adds this advice:

“Finally, and maybe most importantly, Biden needs to keep this State of the Union shorter than his previous three addresses to Congress.  Harry Truman spoke for 41 minutes in his 1948 State of the Union.  Biden spoke for 73 minutes last year.

“Quick — can you remember anything he said?  (No fair Googling.)  At what he has called an ‘inflection point’ in history, it is far less important for Biden to be comprehensive than to be compelling.”

Good advice.  Compelling.  Not comprehensive.

I hope Biden succeeds this week.

Mr. Trump could well win if their rematch were today, but Mr. Biden has eight months to improve his fortunes. Nodding to the priorities of every Cabinet agency and the wish lists of liberal interest groups won’t shift any narratives. Alas, a preview released by the White House press shop on Friday suggests that’s what’s coming. It says the president will talk about, among other things, protecting abortion rights and in vitro fertilization, reining in big tech, curbing fentanyl, helping veterans, ending cancer, making the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes, lowering health-care premiums, uniting the country and “saving our democracy.”

These are all worthy aims, but a moment of this gravity calls for something grander. Mr. Biden needs to rethink an exhausted format, step up to the bully pulpit and make a case less for himself than for his worldview. He needs to push back on the self-defeating isolationism, nativism and protectionism of the “America First” movement, whose ideas are as dangerous now as when they were previously tried, and failed, in the 1930s.

Conventional wisdom holds that politicians should emphasize issues on which they have an advantage — such as abortion, in the president’s case — and de-emphasize those on which they’re vulnerable. But Mr. Biden will lose reelection if he doesn’t address the southern border. Immigration has become the citizenry’s No. 1 concern. A Gallup poll published Tuesday shows 28 percent of Americans see this as the country’s most important problem, the highest reading ever. The same poll shows Congress’s job approval rating has fallen to 12 percent. Mr. Biden’s is 38 percent.

It’s valid to castigate Republicans for killing the sensible bipartisan border deal, something Mr. Biden did during his visit to a Texas border town on Thursday — but insufficient. He needs to convey he understands that many see the millions of border crossings as a breakdown in one of the federal government’s core responsibilities and outline how he will use executive authorities to stop it if Congress won’t.

Mr. Biden should take a page from President Harry S. Truman’s playbook. As the 1948 election season began, Truman appeared as vulnerable as Mr. Biden does now. But he won a full term by using the “Do-Nothing Congress” as a foil and rallying the country to meet the geopolitical challenges of the post-World War II era.

“Twice within our generation, world wars have taught us that we cannot isolate ourselves from the rest of the world,” Truman said in his 1948 State of the Union. “We have learned that the loss of freedom in any area of the world means a loss of freedom to ourselves — that the loss of independence by any nation adds directly to the insecurity of the United States.”

Mr. Biden can make a similar argument regarding the need for the United States to support democracies such as Ukraine as they fend off existential threats. This cries out for more than sloganeering. On Israel, what’s happening in Gaza has riven the Democratic base, but just like with his vulnerability on immigration, that makes it even more crucial for Mr. Biden to explain his thinking and what he’s doing to prevent a wider war in the Middle East while securing a peaceful future for Palestinians and Israelis alike.

Far from representing a silent majority, Mr. Trump’s America First ideology reflects the thinking of a noisy minority. Fresh Gallup polling shows two-thirds of Americans want the United States to keep or expand its commitment to NATO. Only 12 percent want the United States to withdraw from the alliance.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, Mr. Biden needs to keep this State of the Union shorter than his previous three addresses to Congress. Truman spoke for 41 minutes in his 1948 State of the Union. Mr. Biden spoke for 73 minutes last year. Quick — can you remember anything he said? (No fair Googling.) At what he has called an “inflection point” in history, it is far less important for Mr. Biden to be comprehensive than to be compelling.