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.

The Wall Street Journal: “We want to do it better than ever before,” Mr. Trump said about the relief efforts in Houston. “We want to be looked at in five years, 10 years from now, as this is the way to do it.” Mr. Trump made his remarks from an impromptu meeting room inside a firehouse in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Comment: At first blush at least, Donald Trump earned positive points for his response to the hurricane Harvey tragedy in Texas.

For one thing, “his” agencies, starting with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, appeared to respond in a way that illustrated coordination with local authorizes on the ground in flood-ravaged Texas.

For another, Trump himself showed up in Texas, but was careful, on his first trip, to avoid going to the worst hit areas so as not to aggravate conditions for rescue workers.

One critic, Ari Fleischer, press secretary for former President George Bush, thought Trump did not express true sympathy, but, to me, the criticism came across as hollow as Trump tried to buoy the spirit of those in the hard-hit area.

Karl Rove in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ):  “Mr. Trump frequently says things like ‘We are moving very quickly’ (referring to health care, on Feb. 27), ‘We are going to have tax reform at some point very soon’ (April 12), and that his administration’s infrastructure plan will ‘take off like a rocket ship.’

“Mr. Trump also often plays down the difficulty of legislating, as when he declared in March that repealing and replacing ObamaCare would be ‘such an easy one,’ and told Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo in April that tax reform ‘will be easier than health care.’

“Blaming others may be cathartic for Mr. Trump, but it weakens the presidency and inhibits his agenda. Republicans responded to the president’s criticism with a flurry of statements in the Senate leader’s support. Legislators never like it when a chief executive—even of their own party—presumes to dictate who presides in their chambers.

Comment: Mr. Trump probably is not wise to take on those who should be his Republican colleagues in Congress. After all, he’ll need them as everyone faces the prospect of the need to increase the debt ceiling, as well as move forward on tax reform.

But Trump is not one to deal with the unavoidable complexity of legislation. He says what he thinks and then wants Congress to act immediately in line with his sentiments.

WSJ Editorial:  “Mr. Trump’s ego won’t allow him to concede error and he broods over criticism until he ends up hurting himself, as he showed again Tuesday by re-litigating his response to the Charlottesville violence. This is how he has achieved a 34 per cent approval rating, as even allies flee and his presidency shrinks in on itself.”

Comment: Trump’s huge ego often gets in the way of administrative achievements or prods him to believe that he has been hurt by the criticism and thus must respond in kind, if not over-the-top. Thin skin won’t work for a president.

New York Times: “Alongside a huge local, state and federal disaster response was an equally giant volunteer rescue effort that operated with little official guidance. State troopers referred requests for boats in some cases to the civilians. Burly volunteers traded information and resources with deputies and officers. At the Beltway 8 off-ramp that served as a boat ramp, recreational boats with painted images of Texas flags and scantily clad women on the sides shared the waters with police vessels. It was hard to tell, in the darkness, who was being paid to be there and who was not. Similar relief efforts have played a major role in scores of other natural disasters, but the scale of the one unfolding in Houston post-Harvey has involved hundreds of volunteers — perhaps thousands.”

Comment: It’s appropriate to close this post with this well-written summary of heroic volunteer efforts to help those in trouble in Texas. No doubt, once the full brunt of Harvey has been calculated, we’ll hear more about selfless rescue efforts.