Coburn On His "Personal Friendship" With Obama
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) talked to C-SPAN today about his "personal friendship" with Pres. Obama, explaining that his vote against White House-backed stimulus package was not an act of partisanship. He also called himself a "principled conservative."
"I'll defend him as a man of integrity and a man of good spirit, but I'm going to have disagreements with him," Coburn said. "... We have a different political philosophy, but we have a personal friendship that, even when I'm against him, it doesn't affect that personal friendship. I pray for him every day."
Coburn and Obama both won election to the Senate in 2004. They co-sponsored the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, which expanded the availability online of federal contract information.