Say Anything Blog

This is just fine by me.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senate Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee said on Wednesday he would not run for the White House in 2008 and will return to his medical practice after he leaves the U.S. Congress in January.

Frist, a surgeon who served two terms, had been preparing for a possible presidential run for more than a year but said he decided this was not the time.

“In the Bible, God tells us for everything there is a season, and for me, for now, this season of being an elected official has come to a close. I do not intend to run for president in 2008,” Frist said in a statement.

He said he would take a sabbatical from private life and “return to my professional roots as a healer.”

“In the short term, I will resume my regular medical mission trips as a doctor around the world to serve those in poverty, in famine, and in civil war,” he said. “I will continue to be a strong voice to fix what is broken in our health care system and to address the issues of clean water and public health globally.”

Frist’s leadership in the Senate has been lackluster, at best.  I think he’s a nice and well-intentioned man, but as a political leader he is something less then effective.

I wish him luck in the private sector after his term is up.