From the very beginning of Barack Obama’s presidency, Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN-5) has gone out of his way to live up to his Blue Dog label.

For example, days after President Obama took office, Rep. Cooper joined House Republicans in voting against the Stimulus Bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009). Standing united in opposing this Stimulus Bill, House Republicans were apparently motivated more by a desire to oppose all-things-Obama than by a desire to do what is necessary and/or beneficial. And when Rep. Cooper joined the Republicans in this opposition, he was apparently motivated by a desire to make a statement of his own.

What’s the deal?

Does Rep. Cooper represent a conservative district in Tennessee? Were his constituents unwilling to support Barack Obama in the election just a few months earlier?

Not at all.

In November 2008, Barack Obama handily defeated John McCain (55%-44%) in Rep. Cooper’s district, which includes nearly all of Davidson County, much of Wilson County, and part of Cheatham County.

And yet, since January 2009, Rep. Cooper apparently continues to feel the need to show the Democratic Caucus in the House, Democrats across the country, and the conservatives that he seems to think are the majority of his constituents, though they are not, where he stands.

Case in point: health care reform.

Apparently, Rep. Cooper only heard those parts of President Obama’ September 9, 2009 speech to the joint session of Congress that he wanted to hear.

Without a doubt, his ears pricked up when the President said:

I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits, either now or in the future. I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit now or in the future — period. And to prove that I’m serious, there will be a provision in this plan that requires us to come forward with more spending cuts if the savings we promise don’t materialize.

But, apparently, he chose not to hear what the President said just a few moments earlier:

Consumers do better when there’s choice and competition. That’s how the market works.

And, apparently, he was covering his ears while the President was talking about how part of his plan includes a public health insurance option:

The insurance companies and their allies don’t like this idea [of creating a non-profit public health insurance option]. They argue that these private companies can’t fairly compete with the government, and they’d be right if taxpayers were subsidizing this public insurance option, but they won’t be.

And perhaps he was still covering his ears when the President said:

Like any private insurance company, the public insurance option would have to be self-sufficient and rely on the premiums its collects.

And:

By avoiding some of the overhead that gets eaten up at private companies by profits and excessive administrative costs and executive salaries, it could provide a good deal for consumers and would also keep pressure on private insurers to keep their policies affordable and treat their customers better.

And, let’s not ignore this statement by the President (the way Rep. Cooper apparently is trying to do):

It’s worth noting that a strong majority of Americans still favor a public insurance option of the sort I’ve proposed tonight.

Rep. Cooper appears not to have heard any of those parts of the President’s plan, as he continues to tout H.R. 1321, euphemistically dubbed the Healthy Americans Act (HAA) by him and the bill’s cosponsors – Reps. Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA), Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), Mike Castle (R-DE), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), and Jane Harman (D-CA) –, which they first unveiled in early March.

(Indeed, you will all be relieved to know that Rep. Eshoo announced the legislation with great fanfare, saying on her website: “The Healthy Americans Act ensures that every American will be able to afford quality, private health insurance.”)

Rep. Cooper really likes H.R. 1321. As Brantley Hargrove of the Nashville Scene reports in “How Rep. Jim Cooper became a fighter – and a target – in the health care wars” (October 29, 2009):

At almost every speaking engagement, Cooper mentions the Wyden-Bennett legislation [the Senate’s version of H.R. 1321].

In fact, this bill has no chance of becoming law. A month ago, one of Rep. Cooper’s constituents asked Ezra Klein the following three questions:

1) Is there any real possibility that Healthy Americans Act will get serious consideration? 2) What would it take for HR 3200 to get transformed into something like Healthy Americans Act? and 3) Do you think this has any real chance of happening?

Ezra Klein’s responses:

1) No. 2) Not gonna happen. 3) No.

On October 20, 2009, I wrote to Chip Forrester, Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman, and pointed out that Rep. Cooper supports H.R. 1321, a bill that

accomplishes nothing more than creating the appearance of achieving President Obama’s goals while going far out of its way to avoid the obvious fact that a public health insurance option would certainly achieve the President’s goals, and would do so much more effectively.

So why does Rep. Cooper tell his constituents that he supports H.R. 1321, a bad bill that A) has no chance of becoming law and B) has no chance of solving serious problems in this country even if it did somehow become law?

The answer, as I wrote to Chip Forrester, is:

Because it has bipartisan support, and Jim Cooper wants everyone to know that he likes Republicans so much that he’s willing to think like one.

But why?

The answer to this question can be discerned from a careful reading of Brantley Hargrove’s “How Rep. Jim Cooper became a fighter – and a target – in the health care wars” (October 29, 2009) at the Nashville Scene, an article about Rep. Cooper’s role in the failed effort to reform health care during President Clinton’s first term.

But, more broadly, Rep. Cooper appears to still be feeling the pressure that was applied to him in the 1980s and early 1990s, when his Congressional district was TN-4. Because of the pressure that he felt then, for example, he voted against the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (he was one of only three Democrats in the House to vote against it). Then, in 1994, he ran to become the U.S. Senator from Tennessee and was soundly defeated by Fred Thompson, an experience that no doubt left him feeling the conservative undercurrents in parts of Tennessee that are outside of his current Congressional district. He returned to politics by moving to the 5th Congressional district and winning the seat in 2002. But his new constituents in TN-5 are different from those he served a decade earlier and are different from a state-wide constituency. Perhaps he tries to maintain his conservative credentials because he hopes to run again for a Senate seat in a state-wide election. Whatever the reason, right now he is representing a district that overwhelmingly voted for President Obama last year (as noted above, Obama beat McCain in Cooper’s district 55%-44%), a district that is full of Americans who want what Democrats promised during the campaign.

Apparently, Rep. Cooper thinks that the best way to have his cake and eat it, too, is to repeatedly assert his support for a bill – H.R. 1321 – that allows him to show conservative credentials (which he doesn’t need to show at all), while knowing perfectly well that what he’s supporting has no chance whatsoever of becoming law.

Unfortunately for Rep. Cooper, this non-position position can sometimes be mighty uncomfortable.

For example, according to Jeff Woods’s article “Nashville Doctors Outraged Over Cooper’s Insults During Private Meeting” (August 25, 2009) at the Nashville Scene, Rep. Cooper got so defensive at a meeting with Nashville physicians who are members of the Anesthesia Medical Group that he resorted to condescension, which was not appreciated at all by some of the attendees of the meeting.

David Whitten, who has been the CEO of the Anesthesia Medical Group since 1999, sent out an email about the meeting, saying:

The meeting was an amazing display of arrogance, disdain and disregard. It would have taken some extraordinary effort for Mr. Cooper to have been any ruder than he was to us. His utter and complete lack of respect for physicians was completely and unapologetically evident. He clearly believes himself to be far better informed on health care than any of us. It is possible he may be but to be so dismissive of our concerns and to sling insults left and right was truly a sight to behold.

Reportedly, the insults included:

Your Washington lobbyists are obviously doing a very bad job for you or you wouldn’t be so misinformed.

And:

It’s fine if you don’t like my plan. Where is your plan? Physicians don’t have a plan. You can’t always be against something. You need to be for something.

And this last quotation coming from a guy with a non-position position…

It’s got to be tough being Rep. Jim Cooper these days. Considering his desire to be a member of the Democratic Caucus in the House while accomplishing as little of the Democratic agenda as possible, perhaps he was more comfortable as the Representative from TN-5 from the day he was sworn in back in January 2003 until day that the Democrats took power back in January 2007. And his discomfort must have only grown worse since Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.

Well, this brings me to my final point, or rather, to the point that Jane Hamsher made here at Firedoglake on August 24, 2009:

If any primary challengers in TN-05 were waiting for a signal that Jim Cooper was vulnerable, the Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll of his district should be a welcome signal.

The poll that Jane cites shows, as Jane put it, that

a whopping 80% of Democrats in his district favor creating a public option — which Cooper opposes. And 16% approve of his handling of health care.

With the House poised to vote on health care reform as early as tomorrow, Rep. Cooper should know that his constituents are watching him and waiting for him to represent their interests.

And, as his vote may very well determine whether or not he will have a political future, let’s hope that his vote on the health care reform bill in the House will be better than was his vote on the Stimulus Bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009).