PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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 had a refreshing time over the last few days happening to catch Biden press secretary Jen Psaki return to what was normal in presidential administrations – holding briefings for reporters.

It was a routine that was largely scrapped during the Trump years, perhaps because those who were charged to deal with media didn’t know what to say, especially in view of all Trump’s subversive tweets.

With Psaki, you get quality, honesty and skill, if, for no other reason, than that she represents a president with those qualities.

When she doesn’t know the answer to a question, she says so – and pledges to get back to the reporter if or when she finds out answers to the question.  That alone adds to her credibility.

Her intention is to hold such briefings every weekday.

I watched this with a degree of interest honed because of my own experience as a press secretary, albeit for an Oregon governor (Vic Atiyeh), not a president.

Briefing reporters is a skill learned only with experience, not by a book.  Psaki has that on-the-ground experience honed, for one place, as spokesperson for the State Department in a previous administration.

Here are excerpts on this subject from a column by Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sulliivan that appeared under this headline:

The media can be glad for the Biden White House’s return to normalcy.  But let’s not be lulled.

“White House press secretary Jen Psaki was prepared.  She was professional.  She was non-combative.

“And she didn’t peddle a whopper of a lie, the way Sean Spicer did on Day One four years ago with his ‘alternative facts’ about the supposedly record-breaking size of the inaugural crowd (for Trump).

“The first official words by President Biden’s spokeswoman included truth and transparency.  ‘Rebuilding trust with the American people will be central to our focus,’ the former State Department spokeswoman told a small group of socially distanced reporters as she promised a return to daily briefings.

“In fact, Wednesday night’s session with reporters, the first of the Biden administration, was so normal — so weirdly normal — that you could be forgiven for thinking that you had mistakenly put on an old episode of ‘The West Wing.’

“This return to norms is wonderfully welcome after the horrors of the past four years.”

Sullivan also described what she called “potentially dangerous” ground for reporters and editors who, even in a new time, post Trump, need to retain their intention to be skeptical – and not cynical.

“The national press — battered by four years of abuse by the president, and by the incompetence and falsehoods of his spokespeople — is in a precarious position,” she wrote.  “We run the risk of being seduced by an administration that, in many cases, closely reflects our values: multiculturalism, a belief in the principles of liberal democracy, and a kind of wonky idealism.”

To Sullivan, for the media, there’s “a difference between truly holding power to account and grandstanding.”

She says the national media should show toughness by resisting false equivalency, by calling out lies, and by identifying racism or white supremacy in plain language instead of euphemisms.

I suspect she’ll get support for that stance from the Biden Administration.

Back to the main point of this blog:  It is to commend the Biden Administration for getting a solid start on dealing with the media and to compliment Psaki on conducting herself as real press secretary.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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.

When something good happens, I want to relish it rather than moving on immediately to the next challenge.

Consider golf for a moment.

If I hit a good shot or shoot a good score – or just have fun on a golf course – I want to relish the experience before moving on to the next shot or the next game.

So it is, at this moment, with politics.

I want to relish the experience of watching Joe Biden and Kamala Harris ascend to the presidency and vice presidency, a welcome relief from the tragedy of the last four years.

But, at the same time, I want to look at the Biden-Harris ascendancy with a dose of realism.

As good and competent as Biden and Harris are, they will not be able to achieve all they want — possibility, dignity, honesty and empathy, qualities lost during the Trump years – in one fell swoop.

Congressman James Clyburn put it well on the day before the inauguration when, in response to a question from a reporter, he said “restoration begins with the first step, so take small steps one at a time.”

I wish success for Biden and Harris as they take the first steps in such issues as these:

• Find a way to make good on their pledges of fealty for millions of Americans who voted for Trump and who believe the election was stolen from him.  It should be possible for at least some of these Americans to plow new ground and give Biden-Harris a chance.  It also is likely some of them will never change.

PEW Research reported this week that one of its surveys showed a significant proportion – though not necessarily a majority — of Republicans were considering how to disconnect from Trump.  They might not attach directly to Biden, but at least some were poised to support something different than fierce antagonism against those with whom they disagreed.  Perhaps a sign of hope.

• Find a way to work with Members of Congress when both the House and Senate are split nearly down the middle.  Democrats are in charge in both chambers, but as in any set of majority-minority relationships, how the majority manages its control, as well as listens to those who are not in charge, will tell a tale about success or failure.

• Find a way to control the demands of the left – they like to call themselves ”progressives,” though I disdain from using the term because most of them, to me, do not want progress, they only want what they want when they want it.  Yet, they believe they won the election, so controlling their more extreme instincts will take all the skill Biden and Harris possess.

Political leadership is difficult to define.  For me, over my more than 40 years involved in politics, I came to the conclusion that you don’t easily define it just in words.  You define it in deeds.

And, on that score, Biden-Harris are off to a good start, even if they leaven their aspirations with realism.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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 word in this headline is nearly all I can muster as I have reflected for several hours now on this twin reality:  Donald Trump is no longer president and Joe Biden is now president.

Well, as the following will attest, not “all I can muster,” but a fitting one word expression of my view about what has happened in the last hours.

In the last couple weeks, my blog has counted down how many more days we, as Americans, would have to endure the worst president in history, one who perverted the U.S. Constitution for his own ends and then, only two weeks ago now, provoked a mob to take over the Capitol in an insurrection to overturn the election he lost.

Yesterday, I noted that Biden took the oath of office at 8:50 a.m. Pacific time.  It was about 10 minutes earlier than the appointed 9 a.m. hour.

And, I also noted that the briefcase with nuclear code numbers in it wouldn’t transfer from Trump to Biden until 9:01 a.m.

Good that, even in those 10 or 11 minutes, Trump did not push the button.

Without repeating the myriad analyses by various commentators, here are a few impressions from me as I welcome the Biden Administration and hope for a return to a long-held American form of governance that had been lost by Trump – intentionally lost.

• All of those who used words in the inauguration – those who prayed, those who sang, the Youth Poet Laureate, and Biden himself — struck the right chords.  Unity above enmity.

• This will be tough to achieve especially for those citizens who still believe the election was stolen by Biden.  But, in his excellent inaugural address, Biden did what he could to appeal to those persons by saying that he would listen to them, as well as set out “to be the president for all Americans, not just the ones who voted for me.”

• Outgoing Vice President Mike Pence showed just a bit of class when he showed up for the inauguration.  Looking back, it could be possible to say that he should have countered Trump earlier than just in the last days of Trump, but I suspect his die was cast when he took the vice president job in the first place.

• Simply by standing just where she was – taking the oath on the Capitol steps next to Biden – Kamala Harris set a new example of progress in this country.  I imagine that many children of color or of immigrant background – both boys and girls, but especially girls – could see something new in America for them.  Call it possibility.

On this score, if you want to get to the core, read some of the letters young people, including people of color, wrote to Harris as she prepared for the inauguration.  Doing so will bring a tear to your eye as it did to mine.

• If you wanted an immediate example of possibility, look no farther than Amanda Gordon, the Youth Poet Laureate, who delivered very impressively on the stage.  It would not be surprising to see her rise again, perhaps even on the same steps.

I have said before that the test of any presidential administration for me should not be whether I agree with every action taken by that administration.  I won’t.  But, so what?  That’s America where, as Biden said, the freedom to disagree is one of our most important hallmarks.

At least one test for me will be whether an administration is honest, ethical, empathetic, and dignified. 

That is what we stand to get with Biden and Harris.

And, one other thing we’ll get with Biden and Harris:  A willingness to plow the middle ground when prevailing on one side or the other is not possible.  Biden is a practiced hand at bi-partisanship and he’ll need all of his skills to negotiate with a Congress that is close to being split down the middle.

I wish success for Biden and Harris because their success will be our success as Americans.

AND THIS IMPORTANT FOOTNOTE

As I finish writing this, I just returned from watching the Celebrate America special on the inauguration.  If you can find a way to watch it, do so.  It is an aspirational reminder of what America can be if, as Joe Biden says, “we work together.”

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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.

1.

Well, as I write this – the final chapter in my countdown to a Biden presidency, the number 1 is not right.

As I sit at my laptop, the number is more like about four hours.

Donald Trump already has left the presidential stage as he lurks down to Florida, not without having a military send-off at Andrews Air Force Base where he took his last ride as president on Marine One, the presidential helicopter, and then boarded Air Force One for a last flight.

I say good riddance, though I know Trump and his acolytes will not just go away as of today.

It’s time for a Biden Administration, one with which I will not always agree, but so what.  That’s the nature of genuine political discourse in this country and I hope today, with only hours left to the 9 a.m. inauguration, can mark a return to good government, premised on facts and honesty, not lies.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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.

2.

Or, some of us are rooting for fewer.

And, as the Biden Administration takes over in a couple days, details are beginning to emerge of its priorities in the early days.

First and foremost, of course, will be taking steps to deal with the virus, including both its health effects, as well as economic recovery.  Good to have leaders like Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and others taking the subject seriously.

But, another issue – immigration reform – was covered extensively this morning by the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.  For one thing, the border wall will be a subject of the past.

For another, I hope the Biden Administration will work immediately to undo one of the most egregious Trump policies – intentional actions to separate immigrant children from their parents at the border.  Call it what is was – kidnapping.

Here is how the Washington Post editorial pages characterized the issue this morning under this headline:

The Trump administration’s cruel treatment of migrant families was intentional

After the Trump administration, in May 2018, unveiled its “zero tolerance” policy, under which migrant families would be separated at the border, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the government “never really intended” to remove children from their parents. That was a lie.

A report by the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General confirmed what was broadly obvious at the time of family separation, as well as before and since — that the administration’s cruel treatment of migrants has been intentional, calculated and surgically effective in dispensing pain and suffering.

Mr. Sessions, who was explicitly carrying out the president’s own wishes, was crystal clear when he addressed federal prosecutors along the southwest border who were hesitant to carry out the policy that insisted on charging migrants criminally rather than allowing them to seek asylum in civil cases. “We need to take children away,” he told them, according to the report. His No. 2, then-Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, was no less callous, instructing prosecutors not to worry themselves even if prosecuting parents meant preschoolers would be removed from their families and sent Mr. Sessions-knew-not-where. “Age of child doesn’t matter,” said Mr. Rosenstein, according to notes from an individual at the meeting obtained by the New York Times.

Mr. Rosenstein now expresses contrition at what he called, in a statement last week, “a failed policy that never should have been proposed or implemented.” Not so Mr. Sessions, who couldn’t trouble himself to be interviewed for the inspector general’s report or comment when it appeared. His leading role in carrying out that infamous policy will stand as an enduring disgrace, but no one who joined in is untarnished.

The administration’s indifference to the misery of toddlers, tweens and teens was as callous as it was premeditated. It arose from Mr. Trump’s agitation at media reports of caravans of desperate migrants making their way north from Central America.

At the direction of the White House, the operation was executed, deliberately and with forethought, as a means of deterrence — to frighten migrants so badly that they would not dare cross the border without papers.

So what if the operation’s planning took no account of providing for a bureaucratic means of tracking the children, once removed from their families, so they could be reunited eventually with their parents? Why would an administration gripped by the president’s angry exasperation trouble itself with such technical nuisances as formulating computer codes so parents and children might ascertain one another’s whereabouts? The integrity of families was beside the point; Mr. Trump’s fury was all that mattered.

Even today, more than 500 children remain separated from their families as a result of the administration’s efforts, extending back to 2017. That’s about a tenth of those taken from their parents, most of whom were deported to Central America. The number on the page is a dry statistic; it obscures immeasurable suffering. And that suffering, of course, was precisely the point.

*******

So, I say, put this crime behind us.  Reunite children and their families.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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.

3.

Or, some of us are rooting for fewer.

And, in fact, Trump will not go away just because he is out of office.

Washington Post media critic Margaret Sullivan wrote about this this morning in a piece that leads with these paragraphs:

“Trump’s administration is down to its last hours, but you can bet that the false belief held by millions of Americans that the election was rigged is not going away when President Trump does.

“Journalists, if they take their core mission seriously, should think hard about how they’re going to confront this Big Lie, as it’s become known.

“Our goal should go beyond merely putting truthful information in front of the public. We should also do our best to make sure it’s widely accepted — “to create a public square with a common set of facts,” as Tom Rosenstiel, an author and the executive director of the Virginia-based American Press Institute, put it.”

As a former journalist, I liked what Sullivan added about what the reporters and editors to get beyond the Trump lies.  In a few more days – three to be exact – Sullivan’s details will be a subject of one of my new blogs.

For now, here is just her list of steps to take:

• Stop relying on shorthand.
• Use an honesty litmus test.
• Learn the science about how people absorb truthful information.

May the next three days go quickly

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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.

4.

Or, some of us are rooting for fewer.

Is there any way to make the countdown go faster?  Probably not.  Though, as a matter of politics, not the most important issue in life, although it is important, I wish for Joe Biden TO BE PRESIDENT.

I won’t agree with all of the actions he and his administration take.  So what.  At least, those actions won’t be marked by lies and worse.

So, is it January 20 yet?

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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.

6.

Or, some of us are rooting for fewer.

I almost stopped this countdown by returning to one of the major issues of the Trump Administration – his intentional policy to rip immigrant children from their families as they crossed the U.S. border.

Imagine that!  A strategy for intentional kidnapping!

Here’s the way Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman described the tragedy in a Washington Post story this morning:

“If you had to pick a single thing that captured the extraordinary nexus of cruelty and lawlessness that has characterized President Trump’s tenure in office, you could do worse than choosing his family separations policy.

“All this is crystallized by a scathing new report from the inspector general of the Justice Department on the family separations policy, a report that exposes the startling depths of depravity and contempt for good governance and basic humanity that drove its implementation.”

This policy was so depraved that those who executed should be held to account and the best place to do so is in prison.  At the same time, I express hope that the Biden Administration will place a top priority on fixing the mess six days from now.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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.

7.

Or, some of us are rooting for fewer.

And this from columnist Karen Tumulty in the Washington Post:

“In a week, Trump will be gone. But his stench will cling to Republicans for a long time to come.”

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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.

8.

Or, some of us are rooting for fewer.