Perspective from the 19^th Hole 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.

Joe Biden performed a statesmanlike act yesterday by bowing out of the presidential election.

That’s clearly my view as I breathed a sigh of relief – both for Biden and for the country.

Republicans, of course, had a different view, suggested that leading Democrats hid Biden’s health status for months, then flipped the script only a few months before the presidential campaign.

There is little doubt but that Donald Trump, who fancies himself as a Republican, though he doesn’t look like any past Republican, wanted to run against Biden.

To be sure, there are as many views today, the day after Biden dropped out, as there are commentators writing or talking for a living.

From my position in the “not-directly-involved, cheap seats out West,” I have a huge sense of relief that Biden dropped out by performing what I consider to be a selfless act.

Biden is out.  Trump remains. 

And that is not bad for the country.  So, best wishes to Kamala Harris.

The commentator I liked best this morning was Dana Milbank who writes for the Washington Post.  (I read that newspaper every day, as well as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, with sometimes addition of Atlantic Magazine.)

Here is how Milbank started his column.

“On Sunday morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson declared that President Biden absolutely, positively had to run for another four years as president.

“It’s not possible to simply just switch out a candidate who has been chosen through the democratic, small-d democratic process.”

“On Sunday afternoon, Johnson proclaimed that Biden absolutely, positively could not remain in office for even one more minute.

“He must resign the office immediately.”

Are you confused, Milbank asked.  Led by Johnson, the Republicans certainly are.

Milbank adds:  “They (the Republicans)  wanted desperately to campaign against Biden this fall, and their party’s nominee, Donald Trump, had built his entire campaign around beating an opponent he could portray as old and feebleminded.

“Biden upended everything Sunday with these words:  “I believe it is in the best interest of my party and my country for me to stand down.”

Until now, Milbank wrote, voters faced a choice between two deeply unpopular options:  Trump, a felon, a liar, and a threat to democracy, which he still is; and Biden who some thought was “cognitively unfit” to campaign for re-election.

Now the scene has shifted and Vice President Harris, armed with Biden’s endorsement, is setting out to organize a coalition in her name that, among other things, would allow her to use Biden’s campaign war chest, plus describe Trump and his minions as a huge threat to America’s way of life.

It won’t come easy, though, as some Democrats – not all, but some – want an “open convention.”  Which strikes me as foolhardy because it gives more aid and comfort to Republicans.

Those folks – Republicans — can do enough damage to themselves without Democrats aiding and abetting them.

For his part, Milbank reports that Trump couldn’t quite bring himself to stop campaigning against Biden on Sunday.

“Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President and is certainly not fit to serve — and never was!  Crooked Joe Biden is the Worst President, by far, in the History of our Nation.”  Typical Trump blather.

Milbank concludes with a statement that mimics my view, one buttressed by a sense of relief that Biden has made a selfless gesture. 

“Biden’s action has returned this campaign to what it must be about:  The singular menace of Donald Trump.”