I've noticed lots of people expressing surprise that a Republican President would go to such great lengths to promote Africa-related issues. I think there are sound reasons to expect this. The grassroots base of the Republican party is the religious right, and evangelical Christians have been pouring tons of missionaries and associated social workers in Africa for years, bringing back horror stories to their local congregations. Bill Frist has only the highest profile of this brand of Africa activist. Hence, initiatives like the African AIDS proposal have as much to do with appealing to the GOP base as anything else.