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.

Writing in The Atlantic Magazine, Tom Nichols makes the point in the headline.

Unfortunately, it appears to be true these days as Kamala Harris runs against Donald Trump who doesn’t care much for policy.  He doesn’t even know what the term means.

He prefers invective against — any and all.

Nichols summarizes the status this way:

“The Kamala Harris campaign seems to understand that it is pointless to run against Donald Trump on policy.  Despite criticism from the press and demands for more policy details, Harris and Tim Walz have adopted a pragmatic strategy after their national convention.”

At the Convention, the Obamas, Barack and Michelle, were reported to have done a great job on two counts – (a) advocating for Harris as a candidate who would continue building the “hope and change” emphasis, and (b) skewering Trump as a candidate out for only himself.

Michelle delivered one of the best lines when she wondered if Trump knew that “one of the ‘Black jobs’ he had contended were going to immigrants could actually go to Harris!

So, I guess, bid policy farewell and hope that Harris’ momentum keeps up.

On the other hand, another analyst suggested that, as the campaign continues for a few weeks, policy issues may assert themselves as being important – policy beyond the descriptions of the candidates themselves.

If that is true, my sense is that Harris will be prepared for policy if such issues advance and Trump will still find himself flummoxed, for policy is not a strong suit for him, or , in fact, any suit at all.

No less a seasoned political analyst than James Carville showed up in the New York Times this week to advocate that Harris needs to do three things to defeat Trump:

1. Don’t get in Trump’s way as he hurts himself by his over-the-top conduct, especially in presidential debates.

• Break from President Joe Biden to set her own policy course, even if, as stated above, policy may not matter very much in the minds of some voters.

• Display growth from the last time she ran for president in 2020.

If she does this, Carville concluded with this:

“Throughout my nearly 40 years in the campaign war rooms, through every election loss and victory, one thing has remained consistent:  The most thunderous sound in politics is the boom of a single page as it turns from one chapter to the next.

“This November, will we drag ourselves back again, succumbing to politics of fear and anger, or instead do the most audacious thing we can and once more turn the page to a new chapter in American life?

“I know that Kamala Harris represents that next chapter. If she stays fresh, soon the American people will, too.”