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.

The Atlantic Magazine, back in early October, went where the Washington Post would not go:  Endorsing a candidate for president.

The choice:  No surprise.  Kamala Harris.

Here is how the Atlantic started its endorsement editorial:

“For the third time in eight years, Americans have to decide whether they want Donald Trump to be their president.  No voter could be ignorant by now of who he is.  Opinions about Trump aren’t just hardened—they’re dried out and exhausted.

“The man’s character has been in our faces for so long, blatant and unchanging, that it kills the possibility of new thoughts, which explains the strange mix of boredom and dread in our politics.

“Whenever Trump senses any waning of public attention, he’ll call his opponent a disgusting name, or dishonor the memory of fallen soldiers, or threaten to overturn the election if he loses, or vow to rule like a dictator if he wins.  He knows that nothing he says is likely to change anyone’s views.”

So it was that The Atlantic viewed Trump as unqualified to be president.  It added more background:

“Of all Trump’s insults, cruelties, abuses of power, corrupt dealings, and crimes, the event that proved the essential rightness of the endorsements of Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden [The Atlantic made those endorsements.] took place on January 6, 2021, when Trump became the first American president to try to overturn an election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power.

“This year, Trump is even more vicious and erratic than in the past, and the ideas of his closest advisers are more extreme. Trump has made clear that he would use a second term to consolidate unprecedented power in his own hands, punishing adversaries, and pursuing a far-right agenda that most Americans don’t want.”

Then, The Atlantic turned to its endorsement of Harris.

“About the candidate we are endorsing:  The Atlantic is a heterodox place, staffed by freethinkers, and for some of us, Kamala Harris’s policy views are too centrist, while for others they’re too liberal.  The process that led to her nomination was flawed, and she’s been cagey in keeping the public and press from getting to know her as well as they should.

“But we know a few things for sure.  Having devoted her life to public service, Harris respects the law and the Constitution.  She believes in the freedom, equality, and dignity of all Americans.  She’s untainted by corruption, let alone a felony record or a history of sexual assault.  She doesn’t embarrass her compatriots with her language and behavior, or pit them against one another.

“She doesn’t curry favor with dictators.  She won’t abuse the power of the highest office in order to keep it.  She believes in democracy.  These, and not any specific policy positions, are the reasons The Atlantic is endorsing her.”

The Atlantic concludes with this sentence.

“Electing Harris and defeating Trump is the only way to release us from the political nightmare in which we’re trapped and bring us to the next phase of the American experiment.

“Trump is the sphinx who stands in the way of America entering a more hopeful future.  In Greek mythology, the sphinx killed every traveler who failed to answer her riddle, until Oedipus finally solved it, causing the monster’s demise.  The answer to Trump lies in every American’s hands. Then he needs only to go away.”

Kudos to The Atlantic for endorsing in the presidential election – and for endorsing Harris.

It did what the Washington Post would not do and the action – read, inaction – has translated so far into a loss of 250,000 on-line subscriptions.  And more holders are leaving every day.