With Democrats Like This

Among the 11 Democratic votes against the stimulus plan was Jim Cooper's (DINO-TN). How's this for loyalty?

Special "F. You" Note: To Blue Dog Jim Cooper (D-TN-05), who back in December extracted from the Obama team the promise of the convening of a "fiscal responsibility summit," which he wanted to be included in the stimulus. Instead, Obama agreed two weeks in advance of the stimulus vote to convene such a summit in February, and I said Obama should have waited to see that Cooper and the Blue Dogs pony up on the stimulus before agreeing.

Well, Obama didn't wait, and Cooper (and five other Blue Dogs) didn't show. What a surprise.

Now there are a handful of Dems on that list that could conceivably get a pass on this vote because of the difficulty of their districts (though with Obama's approval rating and the extremely desperate straits of our economy, that's debatable). Jim Cooper ain't one of them. This leader of the Blue Dogs won his district 66-31. Obama carried it 56-43.

Cooper's disloyalty goes beyond his FU to Obama on the issue of a "fiscal responsibility summit," because he was actually on Obama's campaign team as a health care adviser. Hopefully that summit is off the table. And hopefully Obama, and Emanuel, will remember this when the time comes to start talking health care reform, and area where Cooper's obstructionism is legend. Here's Ezra's succinct summary:

So let's be clear on where Cooper starts: He was against universal coverage. He was a conservative Democrat who wanted a minimalist, incremental approach to health care that wouldn't offend his corporate constituencies. He thought the Clinton plan was too liberal, even as it began as a compromise between liberal visions of single payer and conservative dreams of market competition. Then, on October 6, 1993, two weeks after the Clinton bill is released, Cooper reintroduces his own plan, creating, from the outset, a weak, moderate "alternative" for business, centrists, and other opponents of reform to rally around. "Privately," we learn, "Cooper is convinced the White House will have to bend and accept his position."

Cooper was, from the beginning, an enemy of reform, not a constructive participant seeking compromise. He did not survey the assembled bills and try and forge a deal. Rather, he did everything he could to undermine the Clinton plan, and played a key role in destroying its chances by shattering the Democratic legislative strategy ("Thwarted on the Republican side of the aisle, Dingell turns back to his Democrats -- and once again finds Jim Cooper standing in his way.") and peeling off Blue Dogs and business. Without even the pretense of party unity, there was never the underlying foundation to force negotiations among the key players -- and so, contrary to Brad's claims, Cooper should be remembered not for trying to cut a deal, but for undermining the conditions and legislation that would've allowed a deal to have been cut. He was out for his campaign contributors and, as a read of The System makes clear, his own glory. He wanted to be the dealmaker of health care. He wanted it so bad that he killed the damn thing.

Now, maybe it made sense to have a inveterate Clinton foe on the campaign team during the primary. But Cooper's track record proves that he's not to be trusted even when he's nominally on your side. And that he shouldn't be let anywhere near a health care reform effort. It's time for Jim Cooper to be marginalized. A primary challenge wouldn't hurt, either.