Frank Says Democrats Healing After Extended Primary Fight
Expresses Optimism on Election, Financial Markets

By Ben Pershing
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 5, 2008 10:18 AM

Rep. Barney Frank (Mass.), one of Sen. Hillary Clinton's (N.Y.) most prominent House supporters during the Democratic presidential primary, says the previously tense relationship between her backers and those of Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) is gradually improving and that he expects his fellow Clintonites will fully embrace the party nominee by Election Day.

Interviewed just before Congress recessed last week for washingtonpost.com's PostTalk series, the House Financial Services Chairman also predicted the recently--enacted housing bill would help stem foreclosures, that Congress would tackle a second stimulus package when it returns in September and that race would continue to play a key role in the contest for the White House. And Frank, who endorsed Clinton last November and served as an economic adviser to her campaign, said he has already witnessed a thaw between Obama and Clinton.

"There does not seem to me to be any realistic chance that any of the strong Clinton supporters are going to hold back by the time the election comes," Frank said.

The Massachusetts lawmaker did not dismiss the idea that there was tension between the two camps. On the contrary, he suggested he would be surprised if there weren't at least some sore feelings.

"Candidates tend to tell two lies," Frank said. "One: 'I love campaigning.' There's something the matter with you if you like political campaigning for yourself. The other is, 'We ran against each other but we're good friends.'

"Suppose you had a job, or you wanted a job, and somebody else went to the boss and said, 'Don't hire her, she's a bum. She doesn't know what she's doing. Boy, will she ruin things. Hire me, I'm much better.' If that's your idea of a friend, you're a weird person. And so, we never like the people we run against. So obviously there's friction, and that includes the people closest to us. But I think it's getting much better and I give Senator Clinton a great deal of credit."

Downballot, Frank is becoming increasingly certain, as are many of his Democratic colleagues, that the party will gain House seats in the fall.

"I tend to be somewhat pessimistic, but even the Republicans will tell you that," Frank said. Why? Because "the right wing of the Republican Party is re-asserting its dominance. Not in the presidential campaign...but in the House in particular, the moderate Republicans are being driven out, and they're being driven out by the more conservative Republicans... So yeah, I think it's pretty clear that Democrats are going to pick up seats."

With President Bush unpopular and the polls, campaign contributions and issue environment all pointing Democrats' way, the stars may well be aligned for them to pick up a significant number of seats in both the House and Senate. But that trend doesn't seem to have moved the presidential race, as polls show Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) neck--and--neck. One explanation for that closeness, Frank believes, is race.

"Obama is a new candidate and yes, we've had a history in this country of concerns about race, and race is a factor," Frank said. "It was a very pleasant surprise for many people that race was so little a factor in the Democratic primary, in terms of white voters. You can't totally forget that."

Though Frank said that McCain "is a much more conservative man than most people realize," he does think the Arizonan is the best candidate Republicans could have chosen for the general election. "It is a combination of McCain being appealing and Obama being a different candidate. I am still optimistic that [Obama's] going to win," Frank said.

Frank's optimism also extends to the impact the housing bill that was signed last week will have on frazzled financial markets. The Financial Services chairman was the lead House negotiator on the package, which was hammered out by primarily by him, Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Given the number of cooks in the kitchen, how happy was Frank with the final result?

"Oh, about 90 percent," he said. "It did not have every good thing in it that I wanted, but it didn't have anything in it that I hated. It really did have a number of very important things."

One vital part of the package, Frank said, was that "we created an affordable housing trust fund. One of the reasons we got into this situation is that we were pressing people, urging people, encouraging people to buy homes who shouldn't buy homes. There are people who can't afford it. There are people who aren't socially organized enough. You know, owning a home is a hard job. Part of it is that they were driven to that because there isn't adequate rental housing."

As for the real impact of the measure on the housing markets in the near-term, Frank said, "It varies. For some people who are facing foreclosure by Oct. 1, this should alleviate that," adding that fewer foreclosures should help the economy overall.

"Part of it's a confidence matter, and I do believe you're going to see increased confidence on the part of investors," he said.

With the housing bill completed, Frank said he expects Congress to return in September focused on two primary issues -- energy and a second economic stimulus package.

On energy, Frank scoffed at Republican complaints that the House shouldn't have adjourned for recess without holding a vote on opening up more land for oil drilling.

"The hypocrisy is stunning," Frank said of his GOP colleagues. "A couple of them almost knocked me over on the way out the door. They were standing there with their bags packed and their airline tickets in their hand and they were saying, 'We'll stay here forever.'"

"There's one thing we could do as a Congress, as a federal government, that could reduce gasoline prices in the near term, and that's to take oil, gasoline from the strategic petroleum reserve," Frank said. "Drilling is years away."

Beyond energy, Frank said he "would hope we would do a second economic stimulus."

Though Bush has been unenthusiastic about such a measure so far, Frank predicted the president would sign it if it reached his desk, just as he ultimately signed the housing bill despite misgivings. "He's a little more open to reality than he would like to pretend," Frank said.

The partisan impasses over energy, stimulus, appropriations and other issues have prompted some members to wonder whether Congress can really stick to its plan to adjourn for the year at the end of September. But Frank thinks the schedule will hold.

"We are going to be here for only three weeks," he said. "That's pretty definite."