Obama oversold bipartisanship, Frank says

Barney Frank offers a blunt assessment of President Barack Obama's performance during the stimulus fight -- saying the rookie chief executive provoked a "partisan reaction" by over-promising to deliver Republican support for the bill.

"I don't think he should have set the expectation he was going to get Republican votes," the Financial Services chairman told Politico right before the vote on Friday.

"He set himself a high bar -- and an irrelevant bar.. and he didn't achieve it," the Massachusetts Democrat added. "He should not have legitimized [the notion of bipartisanship], that prompted their partisan reaction... I don't think he's going to make that mistake again."

Frank, who is close to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, added that the sharp partisan division in the House -- exemplified by the lack of a single GOP "yes" on either stimulus vote -- wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

"I want lines drawn!" he said. "There are real ideological differences here."

Glenn Thrush is senior staff writer at Politico Magazine.