Ari Fleischer, the former press secretary for George W. Bush, said President Donald Trump needs to show more mental discipline to get the credit he deserves.
Fleischer's comments came in a column in The Wall Street Journal.
"The first quarter of President Trump's term is almost over," Fleischer said. "To grade his performance in football terms, he deserves credit for moving the ball down the field over several different drives.
"But he has committed so many unnecessary roughness penalties, along with giving up one huge fumble, that he may have to gain 200 yards just to score one touchdown.
"Mr. Trump does have to put up with biased referees. The press loves to blow the whistle on him. But face it, he earned more than a few of those penalties. The result is that despite many first-year accomplishments, opinion polls show the president isn't getting credit for them."
Fleischer noted Trump's "words and tweets seem to be wearing people down."
He cited Trump's success in getting the tax bill approved, expanding the economy, battling the Islamic State and his appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
But Fleischer maintained Trump "fumbled badly" in firing FBI Director James Comey.
"Regardless of whether Mr. Comey was or wasn't doing a good job, firing him was a mistake that led to Robert Mueller's appointment as special counsel to investigate people associated with Mr. Trump's campaign," he said.
And Fleischer claimed he sees nothing wrong with Trump's use of Twitter.
"But there is something wrong when Mr. Trump tweets to settle petty scores, such as celebrating Arnold Schwarzenegger's firing from 'The Apprentice' or saying that Mika Brzezinski was 'bleeding badly from a face-lift' or retweeting the racist group Britain First," he said.
"This was one unnecessary roughness penalty after another."
And he added: "Mr. Trump is capable of scoring a lot more points. As any head coach would advise, however, it won't happen if he doesn't show more mental discipline on the field."