NEW SURGEON GENERAL NOMINATED

President Clinton nominated Henry Foster Jr., the former acting president of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, to replace ex-Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders. In an Oval Office address, Clinton ordered Foster to "help America attack the epidemic of teen pregnancies and unmarried pregnancies." Administration officials said they expected Foster to be far less controversial than Elders, whom Clinton sacked in December for saying school children should be taught about masturbation. But conservative activists were quick to note that Foster's health politics were strikingly similar to Elders', especially his eight-year-old "I Have a Future" program, which distributes condoms to disadvantaged teens. "The president is making another mistake, and it's my hope that the Senate will not," said Gary Bauer, president of the conservative Family Research Council, who labeled Foster "Elders-lite." "Our concern is that the Clinton administration doesn't understand why Joycelyn Elders was such a disaster."