Congressional negotiators and the Treasury Department have done their part, coming to terms on a $700 billion plan to bail out troubled financial firms.
Now Hollywood can put together a docudrama about the week that shook and maybe saved Wall Street.
If it’s made, the best role in this movie may not be that of Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. or that of Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Barney Frank
No, the choice part may be that of Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee, and the lead Democratic negotiator.
Before the crisis, Frank, 68, was perhaps best known as the most prominent openly gay member of Congress.
But last week people got to see Frank as someone who has mastered the details and the language of the financial markets even though he has never worked on Wall Street.
And Frank - who is sometimes portrayed as a liberal partisan - showed his willingness to broker deals, to find common ground between people with differing opinions.
In addition to all of this, Frank consistently showed his wit, his ability to make fun of opponents, supporters and himself.
Frank’s willingness to find consensus was described earlier this year in a May 13 story in The New York Times headlined “A Liberal Wit Builds Bridges to the G.O.P.”
In the story, Paulson praises Frank’s negotiating style.
“Because he is looking to get things done and make a difference, he focuses on areas of agreement and tries to build on those,” Paulson said. “He doesn’t waste anybody’s time, your time or his.”
A graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School, Frank was elected to Congress in 1980.
In 1987, he publicly acknowledged his sexual orientation, a revelation that didn’t damage him in his congressional district.
In 1990, however, the House reprimanded Frank after it was revealed that Stephen L. Gobie, a male prostitute, was running an escort service out of Frank’s apartment when Frank wasn’t home.
Frank argued that he didn’t know of the service and that Gobie was “a very good con man.”
In 1998, Frank founded the National Stonewall Democrats, a network of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Democrats.
Frank’s sister, Ann Lewis, was a senior adviser for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. She earlier served as a counselor to President Bill Clinton.
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