Tom Coburn Quotes
We fix symptoms but almost never deal with the underlying cause. We put out fires but we don’t prevent them.
Tom Coburn, U. S. Congressman & Senator (Republican, OK), Explaining why Congress is not effective in the long run, Interview, C-SPAN Radio, Q&A, April 14, 2014
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Ideally problems of government would be prevented by good planning and anticipation. Once the political problem becomes evident, it is usually too late to resolve it well at reasonable cost. Machiavelli warned against waiting. However, he never imagined that a political problem would become evident, and the government officials or legislators would not deal with it and delay attempted resolution. However “kicking the can down the road” became very common in the latter part of the 20th century. By the beginning of the 21st century, the extreme political polarization of Congress had caused so much gridlock that almost no problem could be legislated upon, even well after it had been recognized.
Ironically, he had to drop out of the presidential nomination race because he was immersed in a personal scandal that erupted. He could not cope with it. Had he taken his own advice and dealt with it BEFORE the crises erupted, he might have weathered the storm. But he waited and was caught flat-footed.
Thomas Allen Coburn was an American politician and physician. A Republican, he was a United States Representative and later the junior United States Senator from Oklahoma.
