Customer Reviews

Speaking Frankly : What's Wrong with the Democrats and How to Fix It

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A certain amount of disingenuousness and wishful thinking about just how liberal the electorate really is, but this book contains good advice for Democrats if they wanted to take it. They generally do so to the point of moving to the center during campaigns, but then show their true colors after being elected.

Was Bill Clinton the "answer to the maiden's prayer"? He was certainly great at triangulation, but he turned out to have personal problems that undercut whatever effectiveness he might have had.

Really loved the line about going after white-collar crooks and "people who falsely label their juice bottles". (In the section on why Dems are perceived as soft on crime.) Also, the "Why do cops hate Democrats when other public sector employees love them?" section can be related to the Henry Gates arrest fiasco and Obama's rush to label the police as "stupid" without even knowing the facts.

This book will always continue to be relevant because Democrats (occasionally including the author)will continue to make the same mistake of caving to the far-left base and scaring off everyone else.

This book explains so much about what happened the only time I met the Congressman. This was Spring of 1994 in Providence, Rhode Island. Though he spoke of being openly (...)and how voters can protect pro-choice provisions, when members of the International Socialist Organization made a comment, he growled at them. He wasn't the cuddly, chubby bear that he appears to be.

In this book, he says Democrats keep losing presidential races because they cave into too easily to their dedicated leftist members. This was written before Clinton got into office and way before Bush, Jr. was the president. However, it's still timely as the November 2004 election approaches. I would not be surprised one bit if Clinton, and later Lieberman, took advice from this book. You'd almost think Frank was a campaign organizer or lobbyist rather than an elected official from the ideas he proposes.

In a time when even the media portrays anyone who identifies as "liberal" as being scary, Mr. Frank proudly does so. He doesn't cave into this postmodern mumbo-jumbo about fearing labels. Still, he demonizes people on the left for no reason. When we have Limbaughs, and Lotts, and Santorums, why chastise some of the Democratic Party's most faithful voters? Why marginalize and otherize anyone?

This book is easy to read. Though most lawlerly writing is boring and confusing, this was the fun style of lawyerly writing that anyone can finish quickly. I think undergraduates that quote this book will look good in front of their political science professors.