With the unfortunate and untimely withdrawal of Tom Daschle as U.S. health and human services secretary designate, the names of two prominent Tennesseans have re-emerged as potential candidates.
Ironically, their fates may be influenced as much by past encounters with the newly constructed team of rivals in the White House Cabinet as by their relationship with the new president.
Rep. Jim Cooper is widely admired by leaders on both sides of the aisle as a principled pragmatist with a deep knowledge of the nation's health-care system.
The Cooper Plan in the mid-1990s offered the best chance at bipartisan health reform. Since that time, Cooper has taught, lectured and authored on the need and significance of health-care reform.
However, since the sponsorship of the Cooper Plan, the Clinton clan of the Democratic Party has chosen (albeit incorrectly) to attribute the demise of Clinton's health reform initiative to the defection of conservative Democrats led by Jim Cooper.
Added to that resume is the stand by Cooper against Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the recent House fiscal stimulus package. Both were stands of Jacksonian courage, but both also place Cooper in the cross hairs of the two most powerful women in the Democratic Party, and the nation.
What about the governor?Juxtaposed to the Cooper predicament is the prospect of Gov. Phil Bredesen as HHS secretary.
Bredesen is the only governor in the nation to tackle a runaway health-reform train (through TennCare). His expansive knowledge of the health-care industry as both a business leader and government chief executive makes him an especially attractive and effective candidate.
However, Hillary Clinton also enters the picture of his candidacy. The governor was measured in his support for Barack Obama's campaign for president. Many speculated that Bredesen's casual support was rooted in the deep admiration that Tennessee's first lady has for Hillary Clinton.
Not proximate cause, but an interesting corollary — and, in this case, it may be illuminating to see if the Clinton factor is a benefit or detriment to any Cabinet-level aspirations that Bredesen harbors.
Nashville is the nation's (self-proclaimed) health-care capital. The mere consideration of two prominent Nashvillians is an affirmation of this standing. It is indeed ironic that the fate of both candidacies may be heavily influenced by the complex relationship of a Democratic team of rivals.
There is always the chance, decidedly remote, that President Obama could cross the aisle and choose a fourth Cabinet member from the GOP ranks — former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D., perhaps would be the ultimate "team of rivals" choice.
Stay tuned. It should be an interesting nomination process.
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