This one caught me and many Democrats across the country by surprise, a most unhappy surprise. Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank has retired after 32 years in the House.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/69201.html
"Frank’s decision comes as a shock to the Massachusetts political world and to Washington – few thought Frank was a likely retiree."
After all, in just February of this year he had said he would seek re-election. "While I would have preferred to put off a discussion about the next election until a later date, I have been asked on a number of occasions about my plans. In addition, I have become convinced that making my decision to run for reelection known is important for maximizing the impact I can have on the range of issues to which I am committed. These issues require a time commitment longer than the next two years,” Frank said at the time.
The question is what changed for the man who had been literally an institution in the state of Massachusetts and who had just recently had his name lent to land mark financial reform legislation?
Part of the issue is that he was due to be subject to redistricting. In 2010 while he defeated a tea party opponent he received the for only the 3rd time in his career less than 55 percent of the vote. Partly he feels that the poisoned tone has well, poisoned everything too much.
"The kind of inside work I have felt best at is not going to be as productive in the foreseeable future,” Frank told reporters at a news conference in Newton, Mass. “To my disappointment, the leverage you have within the government has substantially diminished.”
"“The activists in both primaries — the people on the left and people on the right — live in parallel universes. “The left has MSNBC and the blogs. The right is on Fox and talk radio. People know different facts.”
This is a sad loss for liberals. He will certainly be missed. But what's next for the Congressman? He is pretty clear what he won't be doing, "
"I will neither be a lobbyist nor a historian,” said Frank, in a barb directed at Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s claim that he served as a “historian” to mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
Least he hasn't lost his acerbic wit.
"Frank said he did not plan to become a lobbyist, but would remain active in the public policy realm. “My intention would be to do some combination of writing teaching and lecturing.” Frank said about his future. “I think I have the longest uncompleted Ph.D. thesis in Harvard history haunting me.”
He definitely should write about some ideas he has suggested recently with regard to reforming the Federal Reserve-that would effectively take a way the voting rights in the FOMC of bank appointees and overall make the entire voting bloc of board governors subject to confirmation before the Senate.
He had a "white paper" about this for which he was knocked around by the usual suspects on the Wall Street Journal editorial page and the Cato Institute which by definition shows he is on the right track. I hope we will be hearing more about this in the future. He-and not all this empty rhetoric from a Murray Rothbard or Ron Paul about "Ending the Fed" is pointing the way to the solution.
We don't need-nor should we-to end the Fed. What we do need is to end it's vaunted "independence."
In summation a word from President Obama puts into proper perspective the man we have lost in our politics of diminishing returns:
"President Barack Obama said Frank’s exit marked the end of an era for the House. “This country has never had a congressman like Barney Frank, and the House of Representatives will not be the same without him,” Obama said in a statement. “For over 30 years, Barney has been a fierce advocate for the people of Massachusetts and Americans everywhere who needed a voice. He has worked tirelessly on behalf of families and businesses and helped make housing more affordable. He has stood up for the rights of LGBT Americans and fought to end discrimination against them. And it is only thanks to his leadership that we were able to pass the most sweeping financial reform in history designed to protect consumers and prevent the kind of excessive risk-taking that led to the financial crisis from ever happening again.”
Finally he is leaving the House. But we can hope this is far from the last we will hear about out of Representative Barney Frank, one of those who truly was worthy of his office.
No comments:
Post a Comment