The Bad Doctor

Politically, my home state of Tennessee is like a friend who, despite her many laudable qualities, has the tendency to embarrass the hell out of me by doing things that are totally inappropriate. For example, Tennessee has recently developed the nasty habit of voting Republican in presidential elections, a poor pattern of behavior that began with the slap in the face she delivered to her native son in 2000. Now another native son is organizing a campaign that, if successful, will force the good liberals of Tennessee to issue repeated apologies and live lives of general shame.

Senate majority leader Bill Frist will be traveling to New Hampshire this week to discuss the GOP’s agenda with state party leaders. With over a million dollars already in his campaign war chest and planned trips to key swing states such as New Hampshire and Ohio in his day planner, Frist finishes second only to the suddenly-religious Sen. Clinton in the absolute transparency of his presidential ambitions.

Liberals be warned: Frist has developed the reputation of being a “good Republican,” a bipartisan moderate with a nice bedside manner. Although Frist’s time as a Senator hasn’t been marked with the ridiculous remarks the public has come to expect from such GOP greats as Rick Santorum or Trent Lott, one would be hard-pressed to find differences in their voting records on major issues. Frist is no John McCain. Further, any trace of moderation that Frist previously exhibited will be crowded out by his need to curry favor with the far right. As a prominent Democrat once aptly noted, “There are few things more amusing in the world of politics than watching moderate Republicans charging to the right in pursuit of greater glory.”

Perhaps the most egregious of the Doctor’s sins is the abandonment of good medicine. When recently questioned about the accuracy of claims in the literature for Bush’s favored sex-education plan, Frist tap-danced around such absurd claims as condoms having no ability to prevent the transmission of AIDS and the potential of AIDS being transmitted by saliva and sweat. Frist knows these claims are fraudulent. Suggesting that they are true presents an enormous risk to public health and shows that Frist cares more about votes than lives.

Being forced to defend the right’s irresponsible agenda is only one way in which Frist has abandoned his Hippocratic Oath. The Medicare bill which he lobbied for, championed, and then navigated through Congress in 2003 did little to curb soaring prescription drug prices or aid Medicare recipients, who on average already spend 20 percent of their income on prescription drugs. The bill did wonders, however, for the Frist family business, Columbia/HCA—the nation’s leading owners of hospitals.

A true optimist, I have not resigned myself to the fact that the next occupant of the White House will be sent there from the state of Tennessee. Instead, I am trusting that the Doctor will manage his candidacy as ineffectively as he managed the Senate. His poor leadership has been a boon to Democrats, especially when they were able to swing enough Republican votes to cut Bush’s original tax cuts in half. If, however, Frist proves better on the stump than he is in the Senate, my embarrassment will be complete, and I will be forced to again apologize for my state. Perhaps I can seek solace with liberal Texans who now live with the question that I hope to avoid: “If the president is going to suck, why does he have to be from my state?”

Brittani S. Head ’06, a Crimson editorial comper, is a government concentrator in Dunster House.