Outgoing GOP Senator on Obama: ‘I Just Love Him as a Man’

Of all the strange relationships in Washington, there is perhaps none stranger than the years-long cordial relationship between staunchly conservative senator Tom Coburn and President Obama. When Coburn made Time‘s 2013 list of the most influential people, it was Obama who wrote the entry, praising him as a man of principle and saying, “The people of Oklahoma are lucky to have someone like Tom representing them in Washington — someone who speaks his mind, sticks to his principles and is committed to the people he was elected to serve.”

So with Coburn on his way out of Congress, the Oklahoma senator had some words of praise for the president on 60 Minutes yesterday that you may never hear from another elected conservative Republican again. For example: “I just love him as a man. I think he’s a neat man.”

Or that Obama’s election to the presidency made him “proud” and was “another thing that says America’s special.”

Now, that being said, Coburn does say that Obama “hasn’t done a great job of reaching out” to Congress. You can watch the full interview here, via CBS News:

[image via Wikimedia Commons]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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