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.

Opinion writers are going to both ways on former Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s testimony this week before a congressional committee.

Some say he painted President Donald Trump further into a corner as he, Cohen, relayed information that could constitute high crimes by Trump.

Others say Cohen’s testimony was supposed to be “bombshell,” but bombed in the sense of not providing new, clear-cut evidence Trump’s crimes, though the cancelled check showing a hush-money payment to a call girl could rank as a campaign contribution violation, and, thus, a crime.

For me, the most telling moment was when Cohen said Trump never expected to win the presidency and was treating all of the campaign as “another infomercial,” one that would elevate his Trump brand.

If true – and it strikes me that it is – no wonder Trump doesn’t know what to do in office. When he arrived against all odds in the Oval Office, he was ill-prepared to take on the most powerful political position in the world. Nor, while occupying the office, he is not known for trying to increase the level of his preparation, preferring to fly by the seat of his pants

Here’s the way opinion writer Petty Noonan put it this morning in the Wall Street Journal:

“Cohen implied the president’s Russian policies are not and never have been on the up-and-up: ‘Trump knew of and directed the Trump-Moscow negotiations throughout the campaign, and lied about it. He lied because he never expected to win the election. He also lied about it because he stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars on the Moscow real-estate project.’

“Cohen said he came to see the president’s true character: ‘Since taking office he has become the worst version of himself. . . . Donald Trump is a man who ran for office to make his brand great, not to make our country great. He had no desire or intention to lead this nation—only to market himself and to build his wealth and power. Trump would often say, the campaign is going to be the greatest infomercial in political history. He never expected to win the primary. He never expected to win the general election. The campaign—for him—was always a marketing opportunity.’”

Or, this from Washington Post writer Karen Tumulty who makes the same point:

“Of all the things that President Trump’s former personal lawyer revealed in his remarkable day of congressional testimony Wednesday, the one that shed the greatest light was this: Trump never expected — or even really wanted — to win the 2016 election.

“Donald Trump is a man who ran for office to make his brand great, not to make our country great. He had no desire or intention to lead this nation — only to market himself and to build his wealth and power. Trump would often say, this campaign was going to be the ‘greatest infomercial in political history.”

Those who watched Cohen’s seven-and-one-half hours of testimony could come to a conclusion that Trump is guilty of various crimes. I agree.

But, without coming to a conclusion on those alleged crimes, what was very clear was Trump is an idiot. He treated the presidential campaign as an “infomercial,” not a process designed to put someone in the White House with the character to perform well, regardless of political party affiliation.

For me, character matters for “our” president.

And, guess what? All of us lost as Trump continues to star in his own infomercial. Cohen made that point very well this week and I hope Cohen’s comments will continue to resonate as we head toward the 2020 elections…unless impeachment arrives first.