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.

I quoted Hew York Times columnist Frank Bruni in my most recent blog, mentioning that an international soccer organization had given Donald Trump a piece prize…which, of course, he didn’t deserve.

Then, after the post, I ran across the following quote as an addendum to Bruni’s column.

“In her newsletter, Joanne Carducci scoffed at the peace prize that FIFA, the international soccer organization, awarded Trump:  ‘It’s a participation trophy for geopolitical corruption.  It’s so stupid it makes my remaining sanity stand up, politely excuse itself, and dive headfirst into oncoming traffic.’”

Well said!