Frist Just What The Doctor Ordered

December 25, 2002

The day the Trent Lott controversy broke, I suggested that Bill Frist would make a great replacement, a better face for the Republicans in the Senate.   Several callers took issue with me, insisting that Senator Frist didn’t stand a chance of winning the leadership position.  

Here we are just a few weeks later and Bill Frist is, in fact, the new majority leader of the senate.   It comes as a surprise to most of America but not to those of us here in Tennessee who have watched him work.   First and foremost Frist comes without the segregationist baggage that Lott brought to the job.   That’s certainly a plus for the Republicans who have been battling the unjust label of being racists when it was the Democrats who were locking little black girls out of our public schools.   Keep in mind that the Strom Thurmond of 1948 was a lifelong Democrat.

Frist also comes with another distinct advantage.   He’s not a career politician.   In the spirit of the founding fathers, Frist ignored the political hacks who insisted that one must pay his dues in lower office.   He sought a U.S. senate seat right out of the gate and defied political gravity when he won.

What a stark contrast is his story compared to many of his colleagues in the Senate.   He is the quintessential citizen lawmaker.   Unofficially, he has plans to serve two terms in the senate then move on.   That move may involve politics – he’s been mentioned as a replacement for Dick Cheney should Cheney decide not to be on the 2004 ticket – but he may very well go back to medicine.   His life’s worth doesn’t hinge on clinging to Washington.

Already, the critics from both sides have bared their claws.   Some conservatives say he’s not conservative enough even though his voting record mirrors the philosophy of the very president they so vehemently support.   He has a lifetime score with the American Conservative Union of 88 out of 100.   That’s more conservative than Fred Thompson and nobody would question Fred’s conservative credentials.

Attackers from the left maintain he has a conflict of interest with legislation concerning the medical field and his investment in his family’s healthcare company.   For the senate’s only doctor to recuse himself from the national healthcare debate would be foolish.   You don’t hear these same critics insisting that the senate’s many lawyers recuse themselves from any debate over tort reform.

Senator Frist has proven himself beyond reproach.   That’s not to say that he’s perfect.   I’ve disagreed with him on occasion.   But I’ve never questioned his motivation.

Not to pile on Lott but he seemed too motivated by job security than the best interests of the country.   For instance, Lott allegedly slipped plans into a defense bill that would spend $1.5 billion on a helicopter carrier that the admirals neither requested nor wanted.   Guess which shipyard was the only one in the country equipped to build it?   That’s right, the shipyard in his own hometown of Pascagoula, MS.

Those expecting Bill Frist to bring home the bacon to Tennessee may be sadly disappointed.   He strikes me as so unlike typical Washington career politicians that I suspect he’ll strongly weigh the good of the country before pushing through legislation.

Not that Tennessee won’t benefit from his newfound power as Senate Majority Leader.   We stand to gain a great deal in prestige and dignity.   We stand to serve as a beacon to the rest of the country how to humbly embrace power and use it for the common good.

Bill Frist is the right man at the right time.   I trust he’s up to the task.