The best medicinePost-Senate, Bill Frist '74 says diplomacy can save Darfur
By Michael Scharff, Princetonian Staff Writer
"Bill Frist '74, shown here in Darfur, says that diplomacy is the answer to the region's crisis. Three months since leaving the Senate, Bill Frist '74 still struggles to tear himself away from the political scene. Though he said he planned to take a sabbatical from public life and announced in November that he would not seek the 2008 Republican nomination for president, after 12 years in the Senate, including four as majority leader, the Tennessee native is still very much engaged in the work of a statesman. In a wide-ranging interview, Frist recalled his years on Capitol Hill, voiced concern over the level of partisanship in Washington and spoke passionately about his medical work in Africa, calling it "a currency for peace." Frist's time in the Senate was marked by significant victories and major controversies. He was active in the success of the Medicare prescription drug program and the confirmation of two conservative Supreme Court justices. But he also found himself entangled in scandals for the alleged mishandling of some financial assets and his at-a-distance diagnosis of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged Florida woman whose husband petitioned the courts for the removal of the feeding tube that kept her alive. In his three months of post-Senate activity, Frist has focused on medicine, striving to use his work as a physician to effect broader international change. His activities as a doctor and as a politician intertwine, as he performs surgeries in rural African villages while simultaneously striving to have a hand in the political conflicts plaguing the continent. Frist has become a medical ambassador to Africa, attempting to build personal relationships at the ground level to bring nations closer together. "I will focus on what I consider one of the great needs before the American people in the country now, and that is to improve public diplomacy," he said, explaining that he uses his visits to call greater attention to the needs of the African continent, especially in the Darfur region of Sudan. [...]"
"Bill Frist '74, shown here in Darfur, says that diplomacy is the answer to the region's crisis. Three months since leaving the Senate, Bill Frist '74 still struggles to tear himself away from the political scene. Though he said he planned to take a sabbatical from public life and announced in November that he would not seek the 2008 Republican nomination for president, after 12 years in the Senate, including four as majority leader, the Tennessee native is still very much engaged in the work of a statesman. In a wide-ranging interview, Frist recalled his years on Capitol Hill, voiced concern over the level of partisanship in Washington and spoke passionately about his medical work in Africa, calling it "a currency for peace." Frist's time in the Senate was marked by significant victories and major controversies. He was active in the success of the Medicare prescription drug program and the confirmation of two conservative Supreme Court justices. But he also found himself entangled in scandals for the alleged mishandling of some financial assets and his at-a-distance diagnosis of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged Florida woman whose husband petitioned the courts for the removal of the feeding tube that kept her alive. In his three months of post-Senate activity, Frist has focused on medicine, striving to use his work as a physician to effect broader international change. His activities as a doctor and as a politician intertwine, as he performs surgeries in rural African villages while simultaneously striving to have a hand in the political conflicts plaguing the continent. Frist has become a medical ambassador to Africa, attempting to build personal relationships at the ground level to bring nations closer together. "I will focus on what I consider one of the great needs before the American people in the country now, and that is to improve public diplomacy," he said, explaining that he uses his visits to call greater attention to the needs of the African continent, especially in the Darfur region of Sudan. [...]"
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