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.

Various media outlets today are reporting this:

“Trump is coming off as Putin’s poodle,” as the so-called U.S. president Donald Trump snuggles up to Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

I protest.

Comparing Trump to poodles does the latter a crime.

Poodles – my wife and have had two in our lives – are better and smater than Trump ever was or could be.

For one thing, poodles are smart.  Trump isn’t.

If poodles had vocal cords, they could speak and what they would say would be far better than anything Trump has said or would say.

So, Trump, snuggle up to Putin if you feel you must.  But, for the media – don’t use poodles in the metaphor.  They and I protest…loudly.