I'm not the only one troubled by Obama's "friendship" w/ Tom Coburn

Frank Rich: "The Guns of August"

“IT is time to water the tree of liberty” said the sign carried by a gun-toting protester milling outside President Obama’s town-hall meeting in New Hampshire two weeks ago. The Thomas Jefferson quote that inspired this message, of course, said nothing about water: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” That’s the beauty of a gun — you don’t have to spell out the “blood.”

The protester was a nut. America has never had a shortage of them. But what’s Tom Coburn’s excuse? Coburn is a Republican senator from Oklahoma, where 168 people were murdered by right-wing psychopaths who bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. Their leader, Timothy McVeigh, had the Jefferson quote on his T-shirt when he committed this act of mass murder. Yet last Sunday, when asked by David Gregory on “Meet the Press” if he was troubled by current threats of “violence against the government,” Coburn blamed not the nuts but the government.

“Well, I’m troubled any time when we stop having confidence in our government,” the senator said, “but we’ve earned it.”

....................................

In last year’s campaign debates, Obama liked to cite his unlikely Senate friendship with Tom Coburn, of all people, as proof that he could work with his adversaries. If the president insists that enemies like this are his friends — and that the nuts they represent can be placated by reason — he will waste his opportunity to effect real change and have no one to blame but himself.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/opinion/23rich.html?_r=1

if Obama does as well.

"lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they'll only let one girl go to the bathroom. Now think about it. Think about that issue. How is it that that's happened to us?"

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/10/11/14503/642

weird things happen...David Shuster has also talked about how nice Pat is off set. I don't really get it, but it happens all the time. But yes, Obama should know that Coburn is not gonna work with him in any constructive way.

it lends legitimacy to their bigotry.

I am always a little uncomfortable with the "Uncle Pat" stuff, though there is some irony with her getting to spar with someone whose gross speech politicized her when she was younger. But yeah, I hear ya. Pat would so be on Keith's Worst Person list nearly every week if he wasn't the networks' "Uncle Pat".

...gives him a platform day in and day out without her doing it too.

that foments and reinforces the craziness of some paranoid and dangerous people, only one of whom needs to be just crazy enough to harm someone...even the POTUS or his family...and I absolutely believe these 'friends' know exactly what they are doing...

don't like him to try to win them over.

He did this when he was at Harvard Law School when there was a bitter dispute over the election of the presidency. He made special overtures to the people he defeated.

to hug his enemies, who saw this not as a sign of his good will but as proof that he could be rolled.

It was better to be Clinton's enemy than his friend.

I think Obama has this problem even worse than Clinton did.

VOTED for Obama in the belief that he would actually change things from the way they were under Repug rule, based on Obama's own promises, get dismissed as "the left of the left."

I feel badly for Democrats in Oklahoma because they have two people with severe personality disorders representing them in the Senate.

;)

we seriously need a boring rating on these posts.

Just saying.

I don't get it.

and Grassley. Not very bright to enable and legitimize your enemies- particularly when they espouse profoundly dysfunctional policies.

Perhaps Obama enjoys lunatics while not agreeing with them at all. I have to confess a weakness there, myself, though I like my lunatics colorful and entertaining, unlike Coburn, who just seems dreary and dismal. But in general, our president does have something of a problem in taking his genuinely moving and inspirational "there's not a red America and a blue America" mythos literally.

who I called a 'bigot' to her face a couple days ago when she mentioned some stupid shit about the Cubans in Florida. She's one of those people who is in way over her head financially because she thinks she is rich. To her credit, she did not care for McCain, but she actually suggested that she might write in Larry the Cable Guy for President during the last election. She's your typical redneck. She and her husband bought a mansion out in the country that they can't afford, and they run for the shotgun if anyone gets anywhere near their property. Seriously! I find her political views reprehensible, but other than that, she is a pretty decent person, and we get along extremely well if politics are not mentioned, so in other words, no, I do not have a problem with President Obama being friends with Sen. Tom Coburn.

And I have great problems with anyone who attempts to paint him as a reasonable person, and that includes the President. Hate speakers are not reasonable, and Obama needs to learn this.

if he considers that guy a friend.

I really doubt they are friends. Does Mrs. Coburn offer to babysit the girls so the Obamas can have a night out? Do they exchange favorite recipes? Decorating tips? chat on the phone about the latest Design Star episode? I doubt it. That's what friends do.

It's just political double speak. These guys aren't friends in any sense of the word. Nada. Zilch. Zip.

Orrin Hatch.

Yeah.

Politics makes strange bedfellows.

far enough to the time when the parties weren't so polarized that they really could be friends. I read that was common a few decades ago.

Now I just don't see it. I don't see McHenry having drinks in DC with Barbara Lee or Dennis Kucinich after a hard day on the floor.

But then there is Mary Matalin and James Carville. Go figure that one. They've been together for years.

And Strom Thurmond.
These people work together in the Congress for years. Being enemies started when Newt became Speaker and there was all out war on liberals and even moderate Dems.

..........

:shrug:

the "newspaper of record". :shrug: I personally EXPECT Obama to pal around with right wing lunatics so I am not surprised. where else does he come up with these wonderful ideas on such topics as, for example, education and his continuation of Bush's faith based bullshit? Sometimes he even invites them to participate in public events on his behalf (Warren). in regards to your "waaaaa, Ted Kennedy likes republicans, too,mommy" comment, I really don't think Orrin Hatch is even remotely as batshit insane as Coburn.

It's called diversity.

people with the views espoused by the likes of Coburn, etc. are, simply put, vile and mean-spirited. How can you be friends with people whose beliefs you don't respect..who show a lack compassion, are racist, homophobic and xenophobic? It just doesn't make sense...

more clear with time in how bringing folks together did help him get more things done that it did not. Congress can change majorities from one moment to a next and Obama never forgets that fact and doesn't shuns the Republica party outright, that would just be a crazy move. Even now some are saying how they will sit out 2010 so yes, he does have to keep reaching out because that's just democracy at work. No matter how much we as voters are uncomfortable with it, it is still the smart thing to do. One thing President Obama intends not to do is become completely powerless. His way or the hihgway wouldn't work as ti would for Bush it would entrench Republicans further, where Democrats (unfortuantely) just relent to keep the peace. The LBJ way does not work in a neocon era, it would be cathartic but it wouldn't work. Is this way working in some cases yes on something like healthcare it isn't but his only option is to keep trying. Sure he could yell scream at them call them names then one day he's facing them as a majority and all he has is animosity and zero progress. Basically because he wants the Presidency to work sure it looks like it isn't paying off but it will in ways that are not yet apparent even if it is just the one or two votes that swing the balance for a bill, then it would of been worth it.

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