Family Doctor.
Independent Voice.
Citizen Legislator.
Tom Coburn.
Coburn For Senate 2010
P.O. Box 977
Muskogee, OK 74402
918-684-4308
|
|
|
Return of the maverick - 6/21/04
Return of the maverick
by Robert Novak SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
WASHINGTON -- Dr. Tom Coburn, the plainspoken obstetrician from Muskogee,
Okla., was back in Washington briefly last week. Republican senators greeted him
with mixed emotions. He is their best hope for keeping an Oklahoma
seat Republican in the closely divided Senate. The bad news is, he
would be as prickly in the Senate as he was during his six years in the House
(1995-2000).
Coburn's problem is that he takes seriously the professed
Republican agenda: limited government, entitlement reform and anti-
abortion advocacy. He was a rare sincere GOP supporter of term limits,
leaving the House after three terms as he promised to do. The result is scant
support for Coburn from the Republican establishment, in the nation's capital as
well as Oklahoma. If elected to the Senate, he will do it largely on his own.
That situation suggests the current realignment cycle in American politics is
nearing an end after 36 years, with the Republican Party displaying symptoms of
a nervous breakdown. The party's leadership, from President Bush on down,
went out of its way to push the undependable Republican Sen. Arlen Specter to
victory against a staunch conservative in the Pennsylvania primary because he
was considered a stronger general election candidate. In contrast,
dependably conservative Coburn gets no establishment support in the
contested Oklahoma primary though he is the best bet in
November.
The Oklahoma Senate seat was safely Republican until Sen. Don Nickles
surprised everybody by not seeking re-election. Nickles, Sen. James Inhofe and
the state party apparatus got behind former Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk
Humphreys, popular with the insiders but not much of a candidate. Conservative
Republican Rep. Ernest Istook wanted to run but was squeezed out. The only
problem was that Humphreys looked like a loser against Rep. Brad
Carson, a clever Democrat who votes with the liberals in the House
two-thirds of the time but sounds like a moderate in Oklahoma.
With a Democratic victory in sight, Coburn on March 1 ended his retirement from
politics. Without financing or endorsements, he had a 12-point lead over
Humphreys and was running even with Carson, according to the Tulsa World's
poll (taken March 26-April 5). Instead of generating support, those numbers only
intensified the establishment's determination to keep Coburn in Muskogee.
Instead of raising money for him, the Republican lobbyist community whispered
that Coburn was not solidly for Bush.
All this dates back a decade when Dr. Coburn came to Washington as a foot
soldier in the Gingrich Revolution. By July 1997, Coburn had concluded that
Speaker Newt Gingrich was no revolutionary. He was a leader in the unsuccessful
coup attempt to replace Gingrich with then Rep. Bill Paxon, now the only big-
time Washington lobbyist who supports Coburn.
Coburn in the Senate can be expected to act much as he did in the House, when
he constantly harassed the appropriators for spending the budget surplus. He
would not follow the accepted freshman senator's model of spending his first two
years listening and waiting. From day one, he would join John McCain
in upbraiding colleagues over their insatiable appetite for pork. He
would push immediately for Social Security and Medicare reform. He
would make clear his unhappiness over the way the Department of
Health and Human Services has been run under Republican
management led by Secretary Tommy Thompson.
Coburn was so uncongenial to the go-along, get-along mood that characterized
the Republican majority in the House that a conflict-of-interest complaint was
filed against him because he went back to Muskogee every week to deliver babies.
If he had to choose, he declared, he would give up Congress -- and the complaint
was dropped. In his current campaign, Coburn spends two days a week practicing
medicine.
In announcing his candidacy, Coburn took dead aim at the professional
politicians who dominate the Republican-controlled Congress: "I believe we have
a deficit of moral courage in the United States Congress. We have many learned
individuals who know what is right but have not the courage to stand against the
moral corruption that is now attempting to undermine our republic." Tom
Coburn is not running to be the most popular senator.
[Emphasis added]
Dr. Coburn is going to the Senate to
fight for Oklahomans, and their children and grandchildren - not for
an establishment. But we need your help financially. We wont be
able to outspend our opponents, but every donation, whether $50 or
$2000, helps us spread Dr. Coburn's message to the people of
Oklahoma.
We also need more volunteers to help with our truly unique
grassroots campaign. Click here to join our team. |
|
