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.

This is one of five departments I run with a free hand to manage as I see fit because, you seen, I am a management guru.

So:

From the Daily Show:  Jordan Klepper said no one should be blowing up Teslas — especially because if you just wait a few minutes, they’ll probably do it by themselves.

Comment:  No matter the cause, there is no reason for persons to commit a crime to express their dislike for Elon Musk, the Tesla guy.  But, at the same time, given how Musk, who was not elected to anything, is running roughshod over the federal government, protests are relatively easy to understand.

From the Atlantic Magazine:  President Donald Trump, never shy about boasting, has in recent weeks taken credit for a range of initiatives that were already under way before he took office.

This always strikes me as typical of Trump who takes credit when it is not deserved. 

And in that way, if not many others, Trump stands in direct contrast to the governor for whom I worked in Oregon, the late Victor Atiyeh.  He never cared who got credit for good things in Oregon.  Nor did he assume he deserved credit.  He just wanted the good things to occur.

Comment:  It’s good to reflect on Atiyeh.  I appreciated the opportunity to work for him and he was good for Oregon.

From the New York Times:  Trump’s expansive interpretation of presidential power has become the defining characteristic of his second term.  No one else matters.  Not Congress.  Not the courts.  Not public opinion.  He is the epitome of the narcissist.

Comment:  Trump and his allies are not as good as they say they are.  Consider only the recent instanced in which his national security advisers set up a phone chat to discuss dropping bombs on Yemen – and, unwittingly, they let a journalist in on the call.

Which proves that Trump and national security brass have no idea what they are doing.

From on-line golf magazines:  The only golfer who hails from Norway – I am a Norwegian by ancestry – won the Valspar pro tournament last weekend.  His name Vicktor Hovland.

Comment:  Yay, Norway!