Barney Frank – Unhinged – Spends Week Blasting Obama

Barney Frank (D-MA) is certainly garnering a great deal of press this week. He’s been busy trying to recast Freddie and Fannie, an agency which he helped to destroy. (From the Boston Globe “Franks Fingerprints Are All Over the Financial Fiasco”). He also feels that he need not wait for the President Elect (or head of his Party), in order to take control of dispersing Bailout billions:

AP

Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said Monday he is preparing legislation to require that some of the bailout money be spent for specific purposes, such as stemming foreclosures and reducing mortgage rates. Frank is pushing to get the second half of the $700 billion rescue fund released next month, before President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated.
Frank's bill would impose tighter restrictions on the second $350 billion, such as requiring banks to report on their new lending every quarter and toughening limits on executive compensation. Many U.S. banks have received federal capital in an effort to stimulate lending.
"I don't want to wait until Obama," the Massachusetts Democrat said in a phone interview. "I think we can do it now."

Reminder: This is the very same Barney Frank who felt there was no need for Transparency in how the Bailout Billions were dispersed by the Fed:

In an interview Nov. 6, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said the Fed's disclosure is sufficient and that the risk the central bank is taking on is appropriate in the current economic climate. Frank said he has discussed the program with Timothy F. Geithner, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a possible candidate to succeed Paulson as Treasury secretary.
``I talk to Geithner and he was pretty sure that they're OK,'' said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. ``If the risk is that the Fed takes a little bit of a haircut, well that's regrettable.'' Such losses would be acceptable, he said, if the program helps revive the economy.

Barney Frank is always Pretty Sure – He is never 100 percent positive unless of course, he’s writing glowing letters to his buddy George Soros (PDF download available from Canada Free Press!) or involved in his latest hobby: Trashing the President-Elect.

Apparently, Barney, is already duking it out with the new Republican Majority Whip Eric Cantor over the auto bailout. Cantor indicated that the Republican’s would be willing to work with Obama, putting Frank’s proverbial panties in yet another bunch.

Frank has been after the President Elect for a variety of issues, and none more pressing than the selection of Pastor Rick Warren inauguration invocation, which is a personal affront to Frank. Warren, as a Christians leader, does not support Gay Marriage, neither does President Elect Obama – one has to wonder who Frank would have Obama choose to deliver an invocation (prayer).

Now that the President Elect has stood up to Frank and his minions, Frank is spouting to anyone who’ll listen “Obama overestimates his Charm”. From She Wired.com Frank complains that Obama, in choosing Warren, did so only to strengthen relations with the “other side of the aisle”, and that he would not be able to work with Republicans, due to their extreme partisanship.

Seriously, Barney needs to keep his interviews straight; the Republican’s are willing to work with Obama, its Frank that’s not willing to work with anyone. Furthermore, he had little to do with Obama’s election or campaign, for that matter; so, one could assume that the President Elect owes Frank nothing.

It is the article of from “The Hill entitled “Rep. Frank: Obama 'Overestimates' Ability to Unify' (See article from She Wired.com), or more specifically, the comments, that give insight into how Rep. Barney Frank is viewed by most.

Frank, although recently reelected (one could surmise on Obama’s coattails), has not had stiff competition from any party. Although he did face a Republican opponent, in Earl Sholley, the Press was most favorable to Barney Frank (go figure), and Sholley had no name recognition or branding behind him which would have given Frank, this time, a run for his money. Those in Massachusetts who would like some dignity and accountability in a politician, may feel compelled to actually mount a serious campaign next time around.

In the meantime, Obama is gaining respect from those independent conservatives for sticking to his guns about Warren, despite Barney Frank and Co’s, incessant whining, as well as his move to the center. One can imagine a day might come, when like King Carlos to Chavez, President Barack Obama will tell Barney Frank to “Shut Up”.