SAYING GOOD-BYE AGAIN TO THE PALMS GOLF COURSE IN LA QUINTA

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.

As I write this, I have played my last golf round for the winter in La Quinta, California.

The location is The Palms, a great, 20-year-old track that sits on the border of PGA West, or as it is known, the Western Home of Golf.  The Palms is separate from PGA West, sitting near, as PGA West does, the San Jacinto Mountain Range.

Great views.  Great weather.  Great golf.

Here are a few highlights of my sojourn in the California desert.

• I had the privilege of playing four times a week with a great group of guys, some of whom live in the desert year-round – kudos to them for staying in the intense desert heat in the summer – and others are snowbirds like me.

I found a home with this golf group a couple years ago and it is great to be able to play every week.  Good golf is not necessarily the goal.  Score doesn’t matter.   Friendship does.

• I also experienced this year a first for me – getting hit by a golf ball on the course…a first in more than 40 years of golf.  The shot was a “hozzle-rocket” – read “shank” – hit by a friend of mine.  He’s still a friend!  The golf ball me in the head.  No lasting damage; just a lot of blood and a scare.

• In our four-times a week game, we play mostly “for the love of game,” though a little money changes hands.  Never more than five bucks, either winning or losing.

One of my friends said the other day that he suspected, over the winter, most of us came out about even.  Winning sometimes.  Losing sometimes.

All of us feel a great sense of good fortune to be able to play at The Palms, a course designed by golf pro Freddie Couples and his friend, Brian Curley.  I tell my friends who have not played the course that its main defense is the 18 greens – hitting them, holding them, and putting on them.

So much so that a common story is that Canadian golf pro Mike Weir, before he won The Masters’ Golf Tournament a few years ago, came to The Palms to practice putting.  Not to suggest that The Palms is as good as Augusta National, but I guess I would imagine it is the ballpark.

When I first joined The Palms four years ago, veterans told me it’s not possible to read greens effectively.  Rather, you have to memorize what putts do.  And, good luck with the short memories of old guys like me.

A few other Palms’ distinctives:

+  There are no tee times.  The pros work you in on the 1^st tee when you arrive at the course…which means there is always a pro on the tee.

+  The requirement is to play in three-and-one-half hours, easy to do if you focus on playing golf intentionally, but hard to do if you grow accustomed to “resort golf” where rounds can take up to five hours.

+  Cell phones are banned on the course.  Or, at least they are banned from producing out-loud signals.  In a nod to players who are working, the rules were adjusted a couple years ago to allow checking phones for texts.  But, still, phones are not supposed to ring on the course or in the clubhouse and you are not allowed to talk on a phone other than in the clubhouse parking lot.

So, my wife and I head north tomorrow morning.  In some ways, tough to leave given all that La Quinta has to offer.  But, overall, we are looking forward to being home – and Salem, Oregon is home. 

For me, the good news is that there is golf in Salem, too…at Illahe Hills Golf and Country Club.  Will be good to be home at my “forever track” with all of my friends from the Salem area.

AGAIN – YOU CAN’T FIX STUPID

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’ve heard of dumb stunts by stupid Republicans, but what happened in Texas takes the cake. 

And, then I also hear about Madison Cawthorne, a member of congress, who almost outdoes Texas.

In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott thought he had a brilliant idea.

Why not rattle the Biden Administration by busing migrants from the southwest border to the nation’s capital during a period of record crossings?  Then, he thought, Biden and company would see the immigration problem first-hand.

What happened?

Well, many of the immigrants said they were grateful for the chartered bus ride to Washington, D.C.

“In a way, it’s actually perfect,” said Bilal Askaryar, a spokesman for Welcome With Dignity, a collective of about 100 local and national groups that help migrants.  “Unintentionally, Governor Abbott sent them to one of the best places in the nation to welcome people.”

Thanks to the Washington Post, here is an account from another immigrant who had a State of Texas ticket to D.C.:

“I would like to say thank you to the governor of Texas,” Chadrack Mboyo-Bola, 26, said after he and 13 other migrants stepped off one of the chartered buses that had provided a 33-hour ride paid for by the State of Texas.

“Blocks from the U.S. Capitol, they were greeted by volunteers who would help them reach their desired destinations around the country to await their day in immigration court.

Three days earlier, Mboyo-Bola and his family had crossed into the United States from Mexico along the border in Central Texas after an eight-week journey from Brazil.  After spending a day in Border Patrol custody in Eagle Pass, Texas, they and about 20 other new immigrants accepted an offer to board a Washington-bound bus in nearby Del Rio.

No word on whether Abbott is considering reversing his stupid stunt. 

If he is smart, he will.  But, in fact, it appears he is stupid and, as it has been said many times in the past, “you can’t fix stupid.”

Speaking of “you can’t fix stupid,” consider this from Washington Post writer Dana Milbank about Cawthorn:

“The 26-year-old Republican congressman from North Carolina was caught bringing a loaded gun through airport security, his second such incident.  Police released footage of him getting pulled over for driving with expired tags and being told to surrender his revoked license.  The Washington Examiner reported allegations against him of insider trading.  Politico published photos of him partying while wearing women’s lingerie.  And a former congressional aide filed a workplace complaint against him.

“Most public figures would call a stretch like that good reason to resign. Cawthorn might just call it ‘April.’”

In conclusion, I just say this — Abbott and Cawthorn deserve each other.  The problem, at the moment, is that we’re stuck with them.    

THE DEPARTMENT OF GOOD QUOTES WORTH REMEMBERING IS OPEN AGAIN

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.

This is one of three departments I run with a free hand to manage as I see fit.  The others are the Department of Pet Peeves and the Department of “Just Saying,” which was open earlier this week.

See, I can run two departments at the same time.

Here are good quotes worth remembering.

FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL:  Is Joe Biden up to the job of being president?  That’s a question being asked by some political commentators, as well as, I suspect, by some voters.

Wall Street Journal pundit James Freeman got into the act this with a column entitled, “Don’t Laugh — Biden 2024.”

Freeman wrote:

“In a column recently, I suggested that President Joe Biden avoid public speaking, at least on weighty topics such as weapons of mass destruction. There’s no constitutional reason he can’t limit his communications to written statements, and his spontaneous remarks have proven to be especially troublesome.  

“Even before his disturbing recent series of misstatements on highly consequential issues, many voters had already decided that Biden is not up to the job of being president.”

Comment:  I understand why some questions have arisen about Biden’s capability to serve as president.  It’s not just age; it’s that sometimes he slips up and says stuff he doesn’t fully mean.

If we could be assured that there would be a real, genuine contest to see who would be the next president in 2024 – Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, another Democrat, or a slew of Republicans – then I’d be okay with the normal election process to choose our next leader.

But, a real election is not likely to occur with former president Donald Trump waiting in the wings.  He will stoke division, dishonesty, and hatred as he tries to rise again to the nation’s top political job without regard to the country he wants to lead.

As one voter, that prospect is more than I can tolerate.

MORE FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL:  The newspaper carried a piece by columnist Peggy Noonan under this headline —  “Joe Biden Has a Presentation Problem; voters would be grateful if he stopped talking down to them and learned to be straightforward.”

Noonan went on:

“I want to talk about Joe Biden and his unique problems presenting his presidency.  You’re aware of his political position and the polls.  The latest from CNN has him at 39 per cent approval.  Public admiration began to plummet during the Afghanistan withdrawal.  That disaster came as it was becoming clear the president was handing his party’s progressive caucus functional control of his domestic agenda, which fell apart and never recovered.

“All politics grows from policies, and policies are announced and argued for through presentation, including, crucially, speeches. Joe Biden has a presentation problem.

“When he stands at a podium and reads from a teleprompter, his mind seems to wander quickly from the meaning of what he’s saying to the impression he’s making.  You can sort of see this, that he’s always wondering how he’s coming across.  When he catches himself, he tends to compensate by enacting emotion.

“But the emotion he seems most publicly comfortable with is indignation. An example is his answer to a reporter’s question in November about the Administration’s plans to compensate illegal-immigrant parents who’d been separated from their children at the border.

“Suddenly he was angry-faced; he raised his voice, increased his tempo, and started jabbing the air.  ‘You lost your child. It’s gone! You deserve some kind of compensation, no matter what the circumstances.’  Then, catching himself, he added mildly, ‘What that will be, I have no idea.’  He was trying to show presentness, engagement.  But there’s often an “angry old man yelling at clouds” aspect to this.

“There are small tics that worked long ago.  He often speaks as if we are fascinated by the family he came from and that formed him. Thus, he speaks of the old neighborhood and lessons.  And my mother told me, Joey, don’t comb your hair with buttered toast.

“This was great for a Knights of Columbus pancake breakfast in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, but not now.  For all the mystique of the presidency, people hired you to do a job and want you to be clear and have a plan. They aren’t obsessed with your family, they’re obsessed with their family.”

Comment:  Biden has some time to sharpen his approach and his delivery.  I agree with Noonan who says, “He should commit, when speaking, to ‘Be Here Now.’  He should be straightforward and modest.”

Biden’s entire presidency rides on his ability to change – and, whether he does or not, his re-election would be better than one of the alternatives, Donald Trump.

NEW YORK TIMES:  Columnist Thomas Friedman wrote a piece in the NY Times ridiculing “soulless” leaders in America – and I add that most of them label themselves as Republicans.  Here’s a summary of Friedman’s column.

“So, here’s my bottom line:  Several years ago, a Hebrew biography of Ariel Sharon was published with the title “He Doesn’t Stop at Red Lights.”  It is a fitting title for our times, too.

“What is so unnerving to me about the state of the world today are the number of leaders ready to shamelessly, in broad daylight — and with a sense of utter impunity — drive through red lights.  That is, to drive through the legal and normative gates that have kept the world relatively peaceful over the last 70 years, during which we had no great power wars, and have enabled more people to emerge from extreme poverty faster than at any other era in history.

“We will miss this if it ends.  To maintain it, though, it’s necessary that we help all those unnamed Ukrainians fighting for their freedom to succeed.  And it is necessary that we make sure that Putin’s quest to find dignity by crushing that Ukrainian freedom movement fails.

“But none of that is sufficient if all those politicians in America who also think that they can run through any red light to gain or hold power succeed.  Who will follow our model then?

“I can’t think of another time in my life when I felt the future of America’s democracy and the future of democracy globally were more in doubt.  And don’t kid yourself; they are intertwined.  And don’t kid yourself; they both can still go either way.”

Comment:  Friedman has it right.  One of my good friends has lamented lately about the tendency of some Republicans running for office (including in Oregon) to express fealty for the soulless Donald Trump as they – the Republicans – campaign.

Better if they would express honesty, forthrightness, and a soul, even if in so doing, they could lose an election.  Better to be honest that a soulless winner.

If they don’t rise to the occasion of better government for the people, they will have catered – or, read, cratered – to unethical behavior.  As Friedman writes, this will come at the risk of the America we have known for 70 years.

MAN’S INHUMANITY TO MAN/PART 2

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 wrote yesterday about this subject, saying that “man’s inhumanity to man” confounds rationale understanding, especially given actions by Vladimir Putin, Adolph Hitler and other tyrants who have zero regard for human life.

Then, I came across an e-mail from my friend, Sam Skillern, who runs an excellent organization in Salem, Oregon, Salem Leadership Foundation, which works around town to help charitable organizations deal with a host of issues, including immigration.

With modesty, he wrote about how his organization uses “tables” to do its work – gatherings of community residents around a “table” so they can talk about what makes Salem and Keizer work – or propose commitments to make the area work better.

The “tables” idea is important, for it is an image used to indicate that people gather together to share perspectives and “talk with each other.”  No need to condemn or oppose.  Just open communication.  On some occasions, it might have been called “a round table” to connote the fact that there was no head, just equal participants.

In his e-mail, Skillern said he had just come from a meeting which featured comments from several community leaders:

“This month we heard from Josh Graves, CEO of Catholic Community Services.   In June we’ll hear from Osvaldo Avila, board chair of Salem-Keizer Public Schools.   Other speakers have included Pastor Ronnie Brooks, Keizer Mayor Cathy Clark, civic leader Gregg Peterson, and police chiefs John Teague (Keizer) and Trevor Womack (Salem).
 
“Josh shared about the key concepts of Catholic Social Teaching.   Now, before I lose some folks on theological or political grounds, please bear with me.   It’s good stuff.  And that’s exactly what Breaking Bread/Breaking Barriers is for:  Idea-sharing and productive dialogue with intelligence, goodwill, and candor in the Socratic tradition – a concept Chief Teague shared with us.”

So, here is the list of commitments Skillern shared:

Life and Dignity of the Human Person.  Every human is created in the image and likeness of God.

Call to Family, Community and Participation.  The human person is not only sacred, but social.  How we organize our society – socially, legally, economically, and politically – directly affects human dignity and the ability of every person to grow in community.
 
Solidarity.  We are one human family.  We are our neighbors’ keepers, wherever they may be.
 
The Dignity of Work.  The economy must serve people, not the other way around.  Work is more than a way to make a living, it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation.
 
Rights and Responsibilities.  Every person has a fundamental right to life – the right that makes all other rights possible.  Each person also has a right to the conditions for living a decent life: food, health care, housing, education, and employment.
 
Option for the Poor and Vulnerable.  A fundamental measure of our society is how we care for and stand with our poor and vulnerable brothers and sisters.
 
Care for God’s Creation.  The world that God created has been entrusted to all of us.  Our stewardship of the earth is a form of participation in God’s act of creating and sustaining the world.
 

“In these precepts,” Skillern wrote, “I see both compassion and empowerment, not entitlement.  I hear ‘we’ rather than ‘us’ and ‘them.’   I perceive neither ‘left vs. right’ … nor ‘progressive vs. conservative.’”

I share Skillern’s perspective. 

Follow the precepts above and they will help to avoid more “man’s inhumanity to man” tragedies.

[Full disclosure:  As a lobbyist, I represented Catholic Community Services – CCC — and it was pleasure to associate myself with such a “community-centered organization.”  Josh Graves was the deputy director at that time and I worked closely with him.  So it’s good to see him elevated to the directorship.  My firm, now called CFM Advocates, still represents CCC.]

MAN’S INHUMANITY TO MAN/PART 2

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 wrote yesterday about this subject, saying that “man’s inhumanity to man” confounds rationale understanding, especially given actions by Vladimir Putin, Adolph Hitler and other tyrants who have zero regard for human life.

Then, I came across an e-mail from my friend, Sam Skillern, who runs an excellent organization in Salem, Oregon, Salem Leadership Foundation, which works around town to help charitable organizations deal with a host of issues, including immigration.

With modesty, he wrote about how his organization uses “tables” to do its work – gatherings of community residents around a “table” so they can talk about what makes Salem and Keizer work – or propose commitments to make the area work better.

The “tables” idea is important, for it is an image used to indicate that people gather together to share perspectives and “talk with each other.”  No need to condemn or oppose.  Just open communication.  On some occasions, it might have been called “a round table” to connote the fact that there was no head, just equal participants.

In his e-mail, Skillern said he had just come from a meeting which featured comments from several community leaders:

“This month we heard from Josh Graves, CEO of Catholic Community Services.   In June we’ll hear from Osvaldo Avila, board chair of Salem-Keizer Public Schools.   Other speakers have included Pastor Ronnie Brooks, Keizer Mayor Cathy Clark, civic leader Gregg Peterson, and police chiefs John Teague (Keizer) and Trevor Womack (Salem).
 
“Josh shared about the key concepts of Catholic Social Teaching.   Now, before I lose some folks on theological or political grounds, please bear with me.   It’s good stuff.  And that’s exactly what Breaking Bread/Breaking Barriers is for:  Idea-sharing and productive dialogue with intelligence, goodwill, and candor in the Socratic tradition – a concept Chief Teague shared with us.”

So, here is the list of commitments Skillern shared:

Life and Dignity of the Human Person.  Every human is created in the image and likeness of God.

Call to Family, Community and Participation.  The human person is not only sacred, but social.  How we organize our society – socially, legally, economically, and politically – directly affects human dignity and the ability of every person to grow in community.
 
Solidarity.  We are one human family.  We are our neighbors’ keepers, wherever they may be.
 
The Dignity of Work.  The economy must serve people, not the other way around.  Work is more than a way to make a living, it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation.
 
Rights and Responsibilities.  Every person has a fundamental right to life – the right that makes all other rights possible.  Each person also has a right to the conditions for living a decent life: food, health care, housing, education, and employment.
 
Option for the Poor and Vulnerable.  A fundamental measure of our society is how we care for and stand with our poor and vulnerable brothers and sisters.
 
Care for God’s Creation.  The world that God created has been entrusted to all of us.  Our stewardship of the earth is a form of participation in God’s act of creating and sustaining the world.
 

“In these precepts,” Skillern wrote, “I see both compassion and empowerment, not entitlement.  I hear ‘we’ rather than ‘us’ and ‘them.’   I perceive neither ‘left vs. right’ … nor ‘progressive vs. conservative.’”

I share Skillern’s perspective. 

Follow the precepts above and they will help to avoid more “man’s inhumanity to man” tragedies.

[Full disclosure:  As a lobbyist, I represented Catholic Community Services – CCC — and it was pleasure to associate myself with such a “community-centered organization.”  Josh Graves was the deputy director at that time and I worked closely with him.  So it’s good to see him elevated to the directorship.  My firm, now called CFM Advocates, still represents CCC.]

MAN’S INHUMANITY TO MAN: IMPOSSIBLE TO COMPREHEND

Part 1

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 phrase in this blog headline courses – or, should I say, “coarses” – through my brain these days as I watch a range of current events.

Actually, better said, it lurks in the back – sometimes the front – of my mind as I watch inhumane developments around the world.

The suffering and genocide Vladimir Putin is wreaking on Ukraine is clearly a set of war crimes.

For me, Putin’s war crimes recall the incredibly terrible deeds racked up by Adolph Hitler in World War II as he tried to exterminate an entire race of people – the Jews.  Thankfully, I was not alive then, but have read enough about it – as well as visited Germany a couple times – that Hitler’s atrocities ring clear.

Current day Germans generally try to forget the atrocities and, frankly, I don’t blame them for wanting to do so, if only because so much time has elapsed from past World War II generations.  I do hope at least a faint memory prevents a recurrence.

When I went on-line to look up the phrase “man’s inhumanity to man,” here is a quick summary of what I found:

“The two main examples include the tragedy of the Jews in World War II and the African Americans’ during the slave trade.”

So, instead of just thinking about Hitler’s atrocities, it also makes sense of remember the abhorrent slave trade in our own country.

The expression itself — “man’s inhumanity to man” — derives from a quote in a poem called From Man was Made to Mourn: A Dirge, which was written by Robert Burns in 1785.  It speaks of oppression and cruelty that mankind causes and that mankind suffers.

It is impossible for me to imagine what possesses some people – Putin and Hitler are only two examples – to wreak such havoc.  They clearly don’t care one whit about human life.

In the face of such realities, I turned – properly so – to the Bible to remind myself of what it might say about this issue.

Here in the California desert, where my wife I attend Southwest Church, the great pastor there always says this after he reads from the Bible:  “What I have just read is from the greatest book ever written, the Bible, and I bear witness that every word of it is true.”

Well said!

So, what the scripture says mimics this paragraph:

“Each life is truly a gift from God.  We can honor His gift by cherishing our own lives, as well as respecting and valuing the lives of others.  We are precious in His sight, and by trusting Him and being diligent in our choices, we can share light and truth with the world around us.”

I found these key verses:

·      John 3:16/  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

·      Romans 5:8/  But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

·      Matthew 6:26/  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

·      Psalm 100:3/  Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

·      1 John 3:1-2/  See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 

Notice that these words don’t say that God made Americans, so we are better than all others.  They say that God “loved the world.”  The entire world. 

Therefore, the call is for us to value all human beings, no matter whether we agree with them or not.  Neighbors with whom we disagree?  Yes.  Immigrants?  Yes.  Members of a political party other than our own?  Yes.   

They were made by God and they have the potential, the Bible says, “to become his children” if they choose to believe in Him. That’s the best way to avoid “man’s inhumanity to man.”

THE BEST EXAMPLE OF THE INTOXICATION OF POWER: KEVIN McCARTHY

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.

If you were going to write about the intoxication of political power for its own sake, there might be no better object than Kevin McCarthy.

Ace newspaper correspondent, Dan Balz, showed up over the weekend with a well-written and well-documented piece on McCarthy.  In the New York Times, it chronicled the over-the-top, dishonest effort by McCarthy to be Speaker of the House if Republicans take control next November.

So much so that he will do anything to remain in contention for the top job.

• Lie?  Yes.
• Change accounts in mid-stream?  Yes.
• Scrap decorum and honesty on the Republican side of the House? Yes.
• Bow at the altar of Donald Trump?  Yes.

Balz’ piece appeared under this subhead:

“Caught in a lie after denying that he talked about urging Trump to resign after the January 6 insurrection, the GOP House leader seeks the former president’s forgiveness to keep his speakership hopes alive.”

Balz continued:

“Power is intoxicating, its pursuit revealing of character but sometimes debilitating; House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) is Exhibit A.  In his ceaseless drive to become the next Speaker of the House, he has demonstrated weakness, hypocrisy, and a willingness to lie to save his skin.

“Thanks to the reporting of Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns of the New York Times, and the incontrovertible power of audio recordingsto bite the mighty at the most inopportune times, it all came together badly for the politician who had seemed poised to lead the House next January.”

Martin and Burns, Balz wrote, quoted McCarthy as having said, in the days immediately after the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, “I’ve had it with this guy.”  He called President Donald Trump’s actions on the day of the attack “atrocious and totally wrong,” according to the journalists.

McCarthy told other House leaders on January 10 that he intended to say to Trump the following: “I think impeachment will pass, and it would be my recommendation you should resign.”

After the Times’ story was published Thursday morning, McCarthy issued a scathing statement denying the report.

“The New York Times’ reporting on me is totally false and wrong. It comes as no surprise that the corporate media is obsessed with doing everything it can to further a liberal agenda.  The past year and a half have proven that our country was better off when President Trump was in the White House and rather than address the real issues facing Americans, the corporate media is more concerned with profiting from manufactured political intrigue from politically motivated sources.”

Unfortunately for McCarthy, Martin and Burns had the goods, a tape recording of McCarthy’s comments.

Tough for him to refute the facts when he has to hear them in his own voice.

Balz writes on:

“This is what the Republican Party in the House of Representatives now stands for — the abandonment of a principled conservative leader and the possible elevation of a politician whose abiding principle is the pursuit of power, one who has bent and bowed before a former president whose actions he denounced and knew were wrong.”

Balz hopes, as do I, that Republicans think hard about whether to elevate McCarthy to the speakership.

If they cave, Balz concludes with this:  “It will add another ignoblechapter to the modern history of a Republican Party that has soiled itself in bending under Trump’s grip.”

I agree.

“UNAFFILIATED” – READ, INDEPENDENT — VOTERS ARRIVE BY THE BUNCH – AND COULD SUPPORT BETSY JOHNSON FOR OREGON GOVERNOR

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.

If I was former Oregon senator Betsy Johnson running as an independent for governor, I would relish reading a story in this week’s Wall Street Journal.

Under this headline – “Beware, party bosses, the rise of the ‘unaffiliateds’ is coming for you” – here is what it said:

“In recent years, Gallup has found in poll after poll that, by big margins, more Americans consider themselves Independents than Republicans or Democrats.  Last month, 40 per cent of Americans identified as Independents; 28 per cent as Republicans, and 30 per cent as Democrats.”

Similar trends are occurring in Oregon.

Here, Johnson has mounted an aggressive campaign to connect with voters – whether Republican, Democrat, or Independent.  Running as an independent herself, she will go directly into the general election without having to go through a primary.

And, given the unpredictable state of politics in Oregon, it might not only be independent voters who choose to cast ballots for Johnson.

It could be the only time in recent history that an independent candidate actually has a chance to ascend to the state’s top political job.  Usually, such candidates play spoiler roles in the race.  Not Johnson.

In the Wall Street Journal article on the growth of independent voters, the author, Tony Woodlief, wrote this:

“The decennial battle over shaping 7,194 congressional and state legislative districts across the United States is drawing to a close.  I hope the politicians involved in this ritual enjoyed it, because 10 years from now, if present trends continue, they’re going to have a much harder time using map-drawing software to pick their voters instead of just letting voters pick their politicians.

“The assumption that most voters are faithful adherents of Team Red or Team Blue drives redistricting, just as it fuels the media’s constant refrain that the nation is bitterly divided.  But subscribing to that view requires ignoring or soft-pedaling the reality that Americans are steadily shifting away from partisan affiliations.”

Some analysts, however, say that independents are closet partisans, citing nationwide election-year surveys showing that most independents say they “lean” toward one major party or the other.  But that’s true in part because pollsters insist that they choose a side.

Woodlief adds:  “Come Election Day, most independents do vote for the candidates of the party they were leaning toward, which skeptics treat as proof of their secret, enduring loyalty.  But following individual voters across multiple elections reveals that independents lean toward a single party with far less consistency and fervor than even the weakest of Democrats and Republicans.

“Imagine this:  Real choices. What all this means is that common-sense candidates with the stomach to enter the fray, knock on doors and raise enough small-dollar donations to garner name recognition, even in a media environment that favors partisan spitball fights, have a real chance of attracting independent voters. The party bosses are sitting atop dying brands.  In the long run, no amount of map-drawing machinations can save them.”

For Johnson in the Oregon governor’s race, the challenge is to appeal statewide on the basis of the image she crafted over more than 20 years in the Legislature.  At the Capitol, she went both ways.  She was a Democrat, but often voted with Republicans.

The tendency showed her independent spirit, as well as an ability to find what I call the “smart middle,” regardless of what the two parties thought or advocated.

It is what has endeared her to many citizens interested in a different kind of governor’s race.

For Johnson, the statistics below indicate the challenge and the opportunity.

Non-affiliated voters have exploded in number since the Oregon’s Motor Voter law went into effect in January 2016.  In the month prior, December 2015, there were 825,282 registered Democrats, 642,552 Republicans, 527,302 nonaffiliated voters, and 2,169,258 voters total.

So, in the past six years, Oregon has added nearly 800,000 new voters, almost 500,000 of whom are not registered with any party.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I dealt with Johnson a lot when I worked as a lobbyist at the Capitol.  I found her to be a breath of fresh air regardless of whether the clients I represented agreed with her or not.

She would say what she thought, sometimes in a gruff, earthy manner, but always with respect for anyone who happened to disagree with her.

So far, even without a primary election, she is carving out a reputation as a credible candidate, if only from the standpoint of how much money she has raised.  In that category, she leads the entire field of Republican and Democrat candidates.

Along the way, she has attracted high-profile support from such Oregon business leaders as Phil Knight from Nike and Tim Boyle from Columbia Sportswear.

That, alone, won’t bring her victory next November.  But it is one reason why a credible analyst told me this about her campaign:  It is possible she could win – not probable, but possible.

For now, that’s all an independent gubernatorial candidate could hope for.

THE DEPARTMENT OF “JUST SAYING” IS OPEN AGAIN

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.

This is one of three departments I run with complete authority to manage as I see fit.  The others are the Department of Pet Peeves and the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering.

So, the Department of “Just Saying” is open again.

ALL DOGS MATTER:  Have you ever wondered how and why the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals films its TV commercials?  I have.

The “why” is to raise money and I have no problems with that.  But the “how” raises questions.

I hate to watch because the commercials often feature dogs suffering in the cold while chained up.

So “JUST SAYING:”  Why don’t those filming the commercials rescue the dogs?  Better than continuing to film their plight!

ALL WIVES MATTER:  That is the title of a group of guys with whom I play golf several times a week at The Palms, a great course in La Quinta in the California desert.

We arrived at the name because all of us know “All Wives Matter.”  And so, several times during the winter, we gather for a great dinner at The Palms and, with our wives, recount our golf exploits, which, as you might imagine, doesn’t take very long.

All of this came to mind this morning as I thought of two cases on the professional golf tour where wives were reported to have given their golfer husbands great advice.

Case #1 occurred on the morning of the final round of The Masters’ golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia. 

Leading by several strokes, Scottie Scheffler had trouble in the morning (he had a late tee time) imagining himself playing the final round successfully.  He told his wife he felt he wasn’t up to the task.  However, his wife intervened and told him that he was a good player and to focus on his work. 

If it was his time to win, she said he would win.  If not, she said his win might come later.  Just play golf, she said.

Scheffler and his wife are Christians and, so, they believe God is in charge of their lives.  If it’s God’s timing, great.  If not, also great.

Buoyed by his wife’s advice, Scheffler went out and played a great round to win.

Case #2 involved Jordan Spieth as he sought to win the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head, South Carolina, the tournament that always follows The Masters. 

At the end of his third round, Spieth had a 20-foot putt on the last green for a birdie.  He missed it, but only by about 18 inches.  Then, apparently without thinking too much, he tried to rake the ball into the hall from 18 inches away.  He missed, thus settling for a bogey.

As he tried to forget his blunder, his wife reportedly had great advice for him.  Not necessarily a golfer herself, she told her husband, “before hitting any short putt, always take about five seconds” to get your mind around the quick task ahead.

In the fourth round, Spieth practiced the “five-second rule,” didn’t miss any short putts, and went on to win the tournament.

So, “JUST SAYING,” All Wives Matter!

And this footnote:  James Achenbach – a wily, funny and clever golf writer who worked full-time for Golfweek for 24 years – passed away Friday, April 15.  He was 78.  I knew Jim for two reasons:  First, I read his golf articles, and, second, he was a member at The Palms where I play in La Quinta, California. 

I would see him on the range and we would talk about golf, including one of his aspirations, which was to play a round at one of the oldest golf courses in the country, Gearhart Links on the Oregon Coast.

Legend has it that the course in Gearhart began life in about 1888, starting out as three holes of true links-style golf amongst the seaside meadows that characterize the North Oregon coast.

No wonder Jim wanted to play the course.  So do I.  We never got together for the round.

But, JUSY SAYING, happy trails to Jim!

WHAT MATTERS MOST? HIGH INFLATION OR LOW UNEMPLOYMENT

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 answer to the question in this blog headline tends to be in the eye of the beholder.

But, while inflation is on the rise, if due, at least in part, to the Russian-Ukraine war, unemployment is at an historic low.

The way the U.S. Department of Labor puts it:  “Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 431,000 in March, and the unemployment rate declined to 3.6 per cent.  Notable job gains continued in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, retail trade, and manufacturing.”

At the same time, the fact that prices are on the rise carries implications for all of those in power, including President Joe Biden, as well as Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

If it is true that election campaigns often are won or lost on the basis of this phrase – “it’s the economy, stupid” – then no one knows how things will play out in the coming mid-term elections.

Still, I have always thought – and continue to think – that “the jobs” issue is a solid plank on which to develop a platform and a campaign.  Too often, I think the “jobs issue” is relegated to the back-burner.

Washington Post media critic Margaret Sullivan showed up a few days with a column that appeared under this headline:  “The media is failing the public on the good news about jobs.”

She added:

“The job market is great right now. If people think it’s the opposite, some part of the blame falls on us.

“The unemployment rate is at an encouragingly low point.  Less than 4 per cent of the labor force is actively seeking work.  And the latest monthly Labor Department report showed another healthy spike in the number of new jobs — they’ve been steadily on the rise for many months in a row.

“But if you ask regular Americans about the jobs climate, a surprising number of them seem to think the opposite is true.  One recent poll found that more respondents have it completely backward:  37 per cent of the public assumes that jobs were actually lost over the past year; only 28 per cent realized, correctly, there had been a gain.  Among Republicans, the false belief is worse; nearly half believe jobs were lost.

“This lack of knowledge matters.  Political fortunes rise and fall in part on the health of the job market.  As the Clinton 1992 campaign staff kept reminding themselves when gauging how to communicate with voters, ‘it’s the economy, stupid.’”

So, whose fault is it, Sullivan wonders. 

Three possibilities:

• Is it people who can’t be bothered to pay attention to the news, let alone the world around them?
• Or, is it that a robust job market paradoxically can feel like something negative to ‘secure Americans,’ including bosses and managers.
• Or, have some persons fallen for the spiel of partisan Republicans who want to deny any good news emerging from the Biden era.

Or, Sullivan asks, does part of the blame fall squarely on the news media for not delivering the news in a way that everyone can easily absorb?

Though all of the above could be true, Sullivan believes the public’s lack of knowledge on jobs ought to sound an alarm bell for journalists.

“It should be a wake-up call,” Tom Rosenstiel, a professor at the University of Maryland’s journalism school and formerly the executive director of the American Press Institute, told Sullivan.  “The lack of understanding is not entirely the media’s fault, but it should be their concern.”

Sullivan offers three suggestions for the media:

• First, find some balance in the current economic coverage, which has pounded away relentlessly at soaring inflation, but mentioned job growth or wage increases only in passing.  

To be sure, inflation is a major and legitimate concern, particularly because of the high cost of putting food on the table and gas in the car or truck.  But high costs also are a particularly easy story for TV news to do.  The visuals — gas station price signs, for example — are there for the taking.  The jobs story may be less immediate and compelling, but it is also important.

• Second, examine the knee-jerk media narrative, which goes like this: Biden’s approval numbers are down, and that’s because the economy is bad.  That framing has been relentless, and it is self-fulfilling.  It’s all part of the horse-race coverage that journalists are addicted to but that doesn’t serve the public.
• And third, cover all aspects of the new world of work more rigorously and more creatively.  At many news organizations, the traditional labor beat was dismantled years ago.  It should be brought back in re-invented form with attention paid to the gig economy, working from home, the burgeoning unionization movement and more.

Sullivan concludes with an admonition for the media – a solid admonition, I add, as a former newspaper reporter:  Do a better job of reporting economic issues and trends, including low unemployment, and do so in a way that has the potential to resonate with readers, hearers and viewers.