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 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 a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and 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.

Long-time political commentator Fred Barnes posited the notion in the headline in a column written for the Wall Street Journal as he analyzed the tussle in Congress to repeal and/or replace ObamaCare.

He said, “Republicans are playing it (politics) poorly. They have one more chance in the Senate to repeal and replace ObamaCare —possibly their last hope for a victory.”

On the other side, he suggested that “Democrats are performing like a well-coached team. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has all 48 members of his caucus on board with saving ObamaCare at all cost. It’s been a successful strategy.”

Barnes may be right.

Republicans ran in several elections on a pledge to get rid of ObamaCare, which is mostly a new federal entitlement with all that implies in the difficult to make any changes. There is always someone who will lose federal largesse.

Then, with it comes to the repeal and replace deed, Republicans look disorganized, which used to be a charge leveled at Democrats.

To buttress his team analogy, Barnes writes this:

“This is an example of why legislative success depends on operating as a team. You don’t abandon your team just because you don’t get everything you want (or want left out). You hold your nose and vote for an imperfect measure, sometimes merely because it’s politically beneficial and better than the alternative.

“This is especially true in dumping ObamaCare. The Republican alternative is a more free-market health-care system in which people can buy the insurance they want, not what government requires.

“Sticking with the team makes that possible. But too many Republicans aren’t comfortable as team players. To them, it’s shady and unprincipled to vote for something about which you have serious doubts. Democrats are more realistic and less persnickety, so they’re better at uniting.”

Consider these examples of Republicans going their own way, not the team way:

* Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky opposes the Senate bill because it leaves too much of ObamaCare in place. But the alternative is to leave all of it in place.

* Senator Dean Heller of Nevada feels the bill’s Medicaid reforms would hurt thousands of his state’s residents and jeopardize his re-election in 2018. But preserving ObamaCare would hurt millions nationwide, not to mention his prospects for winning a second term.

* Senator Susan Collins of Maine says the bill won’t “fix the flaws” in ObamaCare. But the alternative would lock those flaws in place, probably forever.

“Messrs. Paul and Heller and Ms. Collins are playing politics as if it’s an individual sport, like golf, boxing or gymnastics,” Barnes says. “In the Senate, only a team can win.”

Now, a critic of this team proposition could say that forceing members to play as a team means they would have to eschew their own, individual values and accept a consensus. Yes, but if, in this case, that’s what it takes to make good on a clear campaign promise – getting rid of a federal entitlement, ObamaCare – I say, play like a team.

Accept the good and the possible instead of angling only for the perfect.