Examiner: The two of you struck up a friendship during his brief Senate tenure. Has your relationship changed?

Coburn: Oh, it’s a little cooler because I’ve been a little harsher. But I still write him notes and talk to him occasionally.

Examiner: What’s it like?

Coburn: It’s cordial, friendly. I actually really like the guy — I mean, as a person. I don’t like his policies, but I like him as a person.

Examiner: Did you hope Obama would be a different kind of Democrat?

Coburn: My hope was, I honestly thought, I was really proud, even though we lost the election, that we had Barack Obama as president. Because if you really did change the way politics operated, really did work with guys, really said, “I’m not going to pay attention to short-term political answers regardless of what my party was. I’m going to govern for the best interest of the country, not the best interest of the Democrat[ic] Party” — I really had hopes that he would do that. And he hasn’t. And I understand how hard that is.