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.

There are at least two ways to look at the Trump Administration – probably more, but I’ll settle on two for this post.

One is to perceive Trump and his Administration (if that word can be used to describe his fly-by-seat-of-his-pants style) as one of worst in U.S. history with its practice of the politics of personal destruction. More on that in a moment.

The other is to look at the accomplishments of the Administration and give credit where credit is due – not exclusively, of course, to Trump because nothing good from government ever happens due to the work of one person, even, in this case Trump, who always views himself as the smartest person in the room.

Consider this excerpt from a column this week by Hugh Hewitt that ran in the Washington Post:

“As President Trump’s first two years in office come to a close, we’ve seen two originalist justices confirmed to the Supreme Court, 26 originalist appeals court judges confirmed, 10 more nominated, and 41 new district court judges on the bench and dozens more pending.

“Add to that: the repeal of the sequester on defense spending and a massive military re-build underway; a massive tax cut of unprecedented depth and structural change; a re-negotiated trade deal between the United States, Mexico and Canada; withdrawals from the awful Iran deal and, in effect, the absurdist Paris accord; the rollback of job-killing and bureaucrat-empowering regulations by the hundreds; an economy surging while unemployment drops to 3.7 per cent: and a new entente in the Middle East (one that arose despite U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel) that sees the United States and Israel aligned and cooperating closely with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and now a new government in Iraq against the expansionist Iranian theocrats.

“Did I mention the devastation and defeat of ISIS in its physical “caliphate?”

Then, Hewitt adds: “Trump is as wearying today as Andrew Jackson must have been in 1829 to the people of both parties who are used to different rules sets. I am one of them. Thus my criticisms of the president are many and detailed. But my fear of the wild-eyed left is far greater than my discomfort with his bull-in-china shop politics.”

Now, I am sure Democrats would scoff at the list of accomplishments. But a reasoned review would laud what has happened, especially for me, in comparison to the years of President Barack Obama, which were marked by an over-the-top reliance on government solutions to every perceived problem.

As for the second description of Trump, the artist of politics of personal destruction, consider the words of another Washington Post columnist, Michael Gerson.

“Fame usually has some rough relationship to accomplishment. Celebrity results from mastering the latest technologies of self-exposure. Ingrid Bergman was famous. Kim Kardashian is a celebrity. Franklin D. Roosevelt was famous. Donald Trump is . . . not in the same category.

“Within its proper bounds — confined to stunts on a desert island or in a fake boardroom — the ethos of reality television is relatively harmless. Transposed to the highest level of politics, it is deeply damaging.

“This is not only a matter of preferring a certain style of politics (though I think we should do better than the discourse of unhinged tweeting). The problem is a defect of spirit. The founders generally believed that the survival and success of a republic required leaders and citizens with certain virtues: moderation, self-restraint and concern for the common good. They were convinced that respect for a moral order made ordered liberty possible.

“The culture of celebrity is the complete negation of this approach to politics. It represents a kind of corrupt, decaying capitalism in which wealth is measured in exposure. It elevates appearance over accomplishment. Because rivalries and feuds are essential to the story line, it encourages theatrical bitterness. Instead of pursuing a policy vision, the first calling of the celebrity is to maintain a brand.”

Gerson says “the skill set of the celebrity” is not suited to the reality of governing? As evidence, he says “our celebrity president, as on North Korea, is prone to take credit for nonexistent accomplishments. As on the border wall and the travel ban, he deals in absurd symbols rather than realistic policies. As on Russia policy, he is easily manipulated by praise.”

Which of the two perspectives is right? Well, the easy answer is that it depends on your personal bias.

Mine is that the Trump Administration deserves credit for such accomplishments as those cited by Hewitt. But, I just wish Trump would pay more attention to the HOW, not just the WHAT.

How you get things done matters almost as much as the result. If you practice destruction in the pursuit of results, the results often pale. And finally, I wish Trump would take credit carefully so he doesn’t go beyond reality. Too much to hope for? Probably.