Former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank took some time out of his teaching schedule over at Harvard today to join The Scrum, WGBH's politics and media podcast. He talked about everything from racial and political progress in Boston since the 1970's, to the dizzying pace of change when it comes to same-sex marriage, to what'll happen in D.C. if the Republicans take control of the U.S. Senate.
Frank defended the Obama Administration against charges that it's done a poor job crafting policy in the Middle East. Neoconservative critics he said are calling for an unsustainable policy.
My question to John McCain, or Lyndsy Graham, Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire supports them. You don’t like what Obama’s doing? Compared to what? The only other alternative is that you have an ongoing indefinite multi-billion dollar a year American commitment to try and create in countries a political structure that’s favorable to us that can’t sustain itself without us.
I do remember it as a very tough time emotionally. Um, on the one hand there there were very disappointing evidences of hatred and prejudice on the part of some, but there were also people who were motivated primarily by concern for the children and turmoil. There were fears that some of them were justified, most weren’t, but that didn’t make them less important. From the 40 year perspective, one of the thing that shows that you can see progress and things can get better- race is no longer an important predictor of how people are going to vote in Boston elections.
Listen to the full Scrum podcast with Barney Frank over on The Scrum blog, or subscribe to The Scrum in iTunes.
