Barney Frank Cautions Democrats on Social Issues

Former U.S. Representative Barney Frank, a prominent progressive and gay rights advocate now receiving hospice care for congestive heart failure, cautioned Democrats on Sunday against advancing controversial social issues too aggressively. In an interview on CNN's State of the Union from his home in Maine, the 86-year-old Frank argued that the party risks alienating voters by treating divisive topics as litmus tests.

Frank, who served in Congress from 1981 to 2013 and co-authored the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act following the 2008 financial crisis, spoke as he promotes his forthcoming book, "The Hard Path to Unity: Why We Must Reform the Left to Rescue Democracy." Host Jake Tapper noted Frank's status as a "progressive icon" and pressed him on his reservations about the movement's direction.

"It's precisely because I have been on the left that I have undertaken this," Frank replied. He credited activists with successfully elevating economic inequality on the Democratic agenda but said that effort inadvertently opened the door for broader social and cultural changes that much of the public is not prepared to embrace. "Even if I agree with them in the end, I think they make a...