Rep. Frank: Obama ‘Overestimates’ Ability to Unify

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) thinks that President-elect Obama picked same-sex marriage opponent Rick Warren to give the inauguration invocation because Obama “overestimates” his ability to unify people.

“Oh, I believe that he overestimates his ability to get people to put aside fundamental differences,” said Frank, the first House member to come out of the closet voluntarily.

Frank, on MSNBC on Monday, said that he’s delighted Obama was elected and that the country is headed into the “best time” for public policy since the New Deal.

“But my one question is, I think he overestimates his ability to take people, particularly our colleagues on the right, and, sort of, charm them into being nice,” Frank said. “I know he talks about being post-partisan. But I’ve worked, frankly, with Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay, the current Republican leadership. The current Republican leadership in the House repudiated George Bush. I don’t know why Mr. Obama thinks he’s going to have them better than George Bush.

“And so, to be honest, when he talks about being post-partisan, having seen these people and knowing what they would do in that situation, I suffer from post-partisan depression,” Frank said jokingly.

Frank and same-sex rights advocates have fiercely criticized Obama for picking Warren, an evangelical pastor who supported a same-sex marriage ban in California.
Frank said that Warren’s attempts to reach across to the gay and lesbian community and other groups such as Muslims doesn’t allay his objection to Warren’s featured inaugural role.

“I think Rick Warren’s comments, comparing same-sex relationships to incest, is deeply offensive, wildly inaccurate, and very socially disruptive,” Frank said. “And I’m glad he is talking to the Muslims. I’m glad everybody’s talking to everybody. We’re not here talking about not having conversations. We’re talking about singling somebody out for a great honor. And I think the president-elect made a serious mistake in doing that.”