Sen. Tom Coburn Puts Politics Ahead of People

There is a small morsel of principle behind the stand of U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (pictured above at the mic), an Oklahoma Republican who is blocking the passage of a jobs bill millions of Americans need to extend their jobless benefits.

Coburn is right to ask questions about whether the $9-billion cost of unemployment benefits will add to the national debt.

Blocking the bill so people might temporarily lose benefits, though, is a dangerous stunt built on Coburn's ego and misguided adherence to the GOP doctrine.

The weight of Coburn's "principled" stand is pressing heavily on the backs of Americans who are having a tough enough time making ends meet.

Already kicked in the teeth by the lousy economy and tough job market, the unemployed don't need a well-paid lawmaker shaking his finger in their faces over principle.

Coburn's blockage of the benefits bill may cost Senate members a few days of their Easter recess. That's fine with me. Too many people have no jobs to return to after the holiday, so the sympathy I can muster up for lawmakers is zero.

Especially when GOP political games are at the center of the fight.

When President George W. Bush was spending like a drunken sailor on the Iraqi war, I didn't see Republicans taking these moral stands to block spending because it would add to future deficits.

It was simply spend spend spend away until until another Republican administration and Congress gets in to office.

There's only one problem with that plan, though: Democrats took over the White House and both the House and Senate.

So now we are seeing these principled stances, such as Coburn's and that of Republican Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky, who also held up a jobs bill last month.

But notice their change in attitude came only after the priority turned from Republican-led efforts to fight a war to Democratic-led efforts to help people through tough economic times.

The good thing is this publicity stunt blew up in Bunning's face when people rightfully questioned his motives.

Bunning eventually backed away from his silly stand.

Watch Coburn do the same.