City Voices
Surprisingly, I find myself
identifying with Jim Cooper
In the wake of the historic congressio-
nal health care reform vote, I’ve been think-
ing a lot about how much I identify with
Rep. Jim Cooper (see his column on p. 10).
I’m no Jim Cooper, I realize. I’m not
well-bred. I lack an Oxford education. Bud-
get summaries give me a headache. And I
don’t know the first thing about investment
banking.
Politically, we don’t much line up either.
Point of fact: Few are politically parallel with
Nashville’s congressman.
Cooper may be a member of the Blue
Dog Coalition, but he’s not really an average
Blue Dog. He’s conservative on fiscal issues
but not by any means a cultural conserva-
tive. While loyal to his word and principles,
he’s not really a partisan.
He is, to use a clichéd political definition,
a maverick.
Before this recent health care vote,
Cooper was the subject of a barrage of
negative attacks from the left. Opponents
created an anti-Cooper Web site and a PAC
to gin up funding for a primary challenge.
As intellectually honest as Cooper’s
policy reform proposals may have been,
his failure to genuflect at the altar of the
“public option” got him nothing but bile
from progressives.
But after all that wailing and gnashing
of teeth about Cooper’s closet Republican
corporatism, he ultimately voted the “right
way.” And what did he get for his trouble?
A new round of attacks — this time from
the right.
All of sudden, the man who wasn’t
progressive enough for Nashville was being
assailed as a socialist by the right-wing tea
party crowd, and few of his progressive
critics stood up to set the record straight.
While this may be a bit self-indulgent
even to express, I feel a certain kinship
with Cooper.
Since I’ve been a professional blogger,
I’ve been called every name in the book
— and have been accused of being a Re-
publican, a Democrat, a left-winger, a right-
winger, a racist and a traitor. Republicans
talk to me about “our” cause, and a Demo-
cratic politico once tried to lure me to the
“dark side” of political consulting.
I have had my writing rebuked publicly
by conservative radio talker Steve Gill for
questioning our civilian leadership’s use
of the military and by liberal attorney and
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POST POLITICS
politico David Briley for
“crossing the line” in a
discussion about race. I
have been told privately
and publicly by people
of various political persua-
sions that they know deep
A.C. down that I am really on
KLEINHEIDER their “side.”
So when the proverbial
poop hits the fan on the
Internet, things can get dicey. There is no
built-in constituency to back me on politi-
cal or ideological grounds. When you self-
identify with an ideology or party, you have
protection; people have your back without
question. When you don’t join a cause,
group, ideology or party, you can rely only
on the kindness of friends and strangers who
have no knee-jerk reason to defend you.
Cooper is similarly a political loner. He
can be counted on — but only to do what
he thinks is right. He is loyal — but only
to what he believes is the truth. That has
cost him politically because no one group
supports him without question.
In politics (and on the Internet), it’s
much more comfortable simply to pick
a side. And really, there’s no shame in it
because only through collective action is
there hope to exert change in politics.
Perhaps I flatter myself to self-compare
with Cooper. But it’s not all flattery, be-
cause in the end, Cooper didn’t stand alone
or contrary on this health care debate. He
didn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the
good. He put away cynicism and embraced
something imperfect.
In that way, I wouldn’t even pretend to
be like the congressman. Because I often
retreat into cynicism. I frequently lack faith
in the system and in the possibility of true
reform. I stay apart from the crowd some-
times because it is easier to stay away from
the messiness of compromise.
Contrarianism like that, for it’s own sake,
is no better than blind allegiance to ideology.
I admire Cooper because he walks the
thin line between principled individualism
and collective idealism, which is a place I’ve
never been.
Kleinheider is NashvillePost.com’s political
blogger. Visit Post Politics at http://postpolitics.net
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