Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has campaigned heavily on his record as leader of the so-called Republican revolution of 1994, but Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., — who served under Gingrich in the U.S. House — said that his experience under Gingrich’s leadership makes him think Gingrich should not be president.
“I’m not inclined to be a supporter of Newt Gingrich, having served under him for four years and experienced personally his leadership,” Coburn said on Fox News Sunday. Coburn added that he “found [Gingrich’s leadership] lacking often times.”
Coburn refused to make specific criticisms of Gingrich, but his descriptions of good and bad leaders seemed to imply that he regards Gingrich as inconsistent, if not hypocritical. “[T]here’s all types of leaders,” Coburn said. “Leaders that instill confidence. Leaders that are somewhat abrupt and brisk. Leaders that have one standard for the people that they are leading and a different standard for themselves. I just found [Gingrich’s] leadership lacking and I’m not going to go into greater detail in that.”
Gingrich “did a wonderful job organizing” the Republicans who took control of the House in 1994, Coburn allowed, “But I still — it would be — I will have difficulty supporting him as president of the United States,” he concluded.
