Barney Frank "Frustrated" with Obama on DADT Repeal

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) was in Los Angeles and granted an in-depth interview to LGBT POV's Karen Ocamb to the LGBT legislative agenda specifically "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The interview is a bombshell: Frank says President Obama's "refusal to call for repeal this year is a problem."

 Frank is "frustrated" by the Administration's lack of support on DADT:

I’m frustrated. I’m disappointed with the Administration, in part. There have been some good things. Admiral Mullen saying what he said was spectacular. And enforcing it the way it was originally supposed to – even though I didn’t like it – discharges can be cut by over 90 percent. But there will be a vote in the House. Rep. Patrick Murphy is going to offer his amendment. I think we’ll pass it in the House and then in the Senate – I’m told by some of the Senate leadership that they don’t think they have the votes to repeal it. People ought to talk to Sen. Carl Levin, he’s the key guy who’s our great ally.”

The lack of leadership is a "problem", Frank says.

"His not being for it will give people an excuse to not vote for it. Thing is – we’ve done hate crimes. We do ENDA.  It’s a big agenda all at once. At this point – the President’s refusal to call for repeal this year is a problem."

Welcome to the party, Barney. The Democrats will likely lose seats in the mid-term elections. It will be virtually impossible to move any LGBT rights legislation with fewer seats and a more conservative House and/or Senate.  But it's an even bigger "problem" for the activists and the Human Rights Campaign that insisted the Administration had an LGBT  "strategy' and their was a "clear path to repeal."

Regarding the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which Frank sponsored and has been stalled since September in the House Education & Labor Committee, the congressman says he's "hoping to get a vote on it in committee... sometimes this month."

Last month, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) said she believed there are enough votes in the House to pass ENDA. Frank says that "might" be the case but more importantly: 'It means calling up [your] representatives and say, please vote for this bill and please oppose watering down the transgender provision."

Comments

[Jim]

I would think, as chairman of the very powerful House Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank would have some important bargaining chips he could use to get Obama on the right side of DADT, ENDA, DOMA, and UAFA (Uniting American Families Act).

So why doesn’t he use them?