Name: Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma patriot
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Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma patriot

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EDITORIALSThe Oklahoman Editorial Board A Scripture passage has Jesus saying of Nathanael, “There is no duplicity in him.” The description applied perfectly to former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn of Muskogee, who lost his second fight with prostate cancer Saturday.Coburn didn’t mince words. If you asked him a question, he gave a straightforward answer. No dancing, no obfuscating. We recall an Oklahoman editorial board meeting with Coburn that lasted just 40 minutes — and covered numerous topics. Some politicians need at least 10 minutes just to say hello.Coburn didn’t gauge the political winds before deciding how he felt about something. He simply applied his firmly conservative principles, which meant he believed in fiscal prudence and states’ rights and limited government. If that meant rubbing some people the wrong way, well, that was OK.“If the No. 1 goal is to get re-elected, then the No. 2 goal is not to offend anybody,” Coburn said in a 2013 interview. “If you won’t challenge the parochial benefits of programs … because you want to maintain your ability to get votes, you won’t see people doing what needs to be done.”An obstetrician who delivered more than 4,000 babies, Coburn earned the nickname “Dr. No” during his time in Washington, which included six years in the House and 10 in the Senate — he retired from the latter in late 2014 with two years remaining on his second, and what he vowed would be his last, term.The nickname stemmed from Coburn’s unwillingness to go along simply to get along — although he did get along well with many of his colleagues, including Democrats at the other end of the ideological spectrum. He famously befriended Barack Obama in 2005 when the two were freshmen senators; although the two sparred rigorously over policy when Obama became president, the friendship remained.Politicians “need to separate the difference in political philosophy versus friendship,” Coburn said. “How better to influence somebody than love them?”Coburn was a spending hawk of the first order. His annual “Wastebook” outlined hundreds of millions of dollars in what he considered misguided government spending. He argued that strong oversight was necessary, and that members of Congress should welcome it.He titled a 2012 book “The Debt Bomb: A Bold Plan to Stop Washington from Bankrupting America,” and said compromise was needed to avert catastrophe. He pushed hard to reform Social Security and Medicare, noting the unsustainable path that each is on.After leaving the Senate, Coburn worked to hold a constitutional convention, which he saw as one last hope for imposing fiscal constraints.Coburn cited not his health but dissatisfaction and frustration with D.C. when he resigned from the Senate. His final Senate floor speech touched on that as he urged his colleagues to work with each other more often.He also lamented “the loss of freedom that we have imposed by the arrogance of an all-too-powerful central government, ignoring the wisdom and writings of our Founders, who said above all you must protect the liberty of the individual and recognize that liberty is a God-given right.”Tom Coburn’s principled and honorable example is one that politicians at all levels of government would do well to emulate.

EDITORIALSThe Oklahoman Editorial Board A Scripture passage has Jesus saying of Nathanael, “There is no duplicity in him.” The description applied perfectly to former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn of Muskogee, who lost his second fight with prostate cancer Saturday.Coburn didn’t mince words. If you asked him a question, he gave a straightforward answer. No dancing, no obfuscating. We recall an Oklahoman editorial board meeting with Coburn that lasted just 40 minutes — and covered numerous topics. Some politicians need at least 10 minutes just to say hello.Coburn didn’t gauge the political winds...

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Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma patriot

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