Ah, the memories. Bill Frist served as the dutiful White House puppet for the last four years. For that, he has been rewarded with a failed political career, dashed presidential aspirations and the loss of the Senate. Today was his finale:
There was significant pomp as Mr. Frist made his goodbye, and potent symbolism as well. He was preceded into the chamber by Vice President Dick Cheney, representing the White House that helped install him in the leadership job in 2002 and was seen as holding strong influence over him. Then came Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, the leader of the House, where corruption and gridlock helped spell the end of Republican control.The low point -- and there were many -- had to be the Schiavo diagnosis. But, the nuclear option ran a close second. It's over now.
It was not the triumphant finale Mr. Frist, a former heart-and-lung surgeon, envisioned, having counted on his pedigree of medical and public policy expertise to provide the foundation for a presidential bid in 2008. Like others before him, Mr. Frist discovered that leading the Senate — and the accommodations requisite in the job — proved to be a political impediment. In Mr. Frist’s case, his methodical physician’s demeanor was not always suited to the black art of Senate wheeling and dealing.
