We support the Rob Ford fiscal agenda.

We don’t support the Rob Ford circus.

As long as the Toronto mayor is doing the things he said he would do — controlling spending, lowering tax hikes compared to the David Miller era and getting the best possible deals for taxpayers when it comes to providing city services — he will have our backing on those initiatives.

But we don’t endorse his antics like showing up at The Taste of the Danforth, apparently three sheets to the wind, the latest in a long line of public embarrassments that indicate he may have a drinking problem.

For that, he should get help. And if he has a drug problem, as the Toronto Star has alleged, he needs to get help for that, as well.

It’s true, as Ford says, that no mayor in Toronto’s history has been subjected to as intense media and public scrutiny as he has, since winning office in 2010.

It’s also true the Star has been on a jihad against him that began back when he was an Etobicoke councillor, long before he decided to run for mayor.

But that doesn’t mean every criticism of his personal conduct in that paper, or this paper, or in other media, is without merit.

Being a big-city mayor is a 24/7 job requiring good judgment and common sense.

When Ford behaves like a raging bull, he not only becomes an embarrassment to himself and the city he serves, he detracts from his political effectiveness and his ability to get his agenda through at city hall.

Ford has repeatedly received sound advice from his political allies and advisors that he has chosen to ignore.

They told him not to leave his duties at City Hall in mid-day to coach his high school football team, and he did it anyway.

They told him to hire a driver for his own and the public’s safety — given his propensity for driving while distracted — and he refused.

And they’ve told him that when you’re attending public events like the Taste of the Danforth, the appropriate beverage is soda pop, or ONE beer.

A smart politician learns from his mistakes. He doesn’t revel in them.

There is much about Ford that is admirable.

His enemies may mock his insistence on returning all phone calls from constituents, but we see in that a sincere dedication to public service.

It’s a refreshing change from the indifference and arrogance Canadians often encounter at all levels of government when they ask for help from politicians and bureaucrats, who claim to be working on their behalf.

When it comes to his achievements — winning important concessions for taxpayers from the city’s public sector unions and contacting out garbage collection for similar savings — the mayor deserves praise.

His problem remains, however, that his worst enemy on city council is often himself.