Wolfowitz, huh!
It gets worse:
truthout.org
Wolfowitz and Fiorina in Race to Head World Bank
By Elizabeth Becker
The International Herald Tribune
Wednesday 02 March 2005
Washington - Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense, is under serious consideration to become the next president of the World Bank, according to a source in the administration of George W. Bush.
Another new candidate to emerge is Carly Fiorina, who lost her job as chief executive of Hewlett-Packard two weeks ago, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Robert Zoellick, until last week the U.S. trade representative, had been the White House's candidate to replace James Wolfensohn, the current bank president, who completes his second five-year term in May.
But when Zoellick was tapped to become the new deputy secretary of state, the White House reopened the bidding.
Remaining on the short list of contenders are Randall Tobias, the AIDS coordinator for the White House and formerly vice chairman of AT&T International and head of Eli Lilly; and John Taylor, the top official at the Treasury Department for international affairs.
Peter McPherson, the president of Michigan State University, is no longer one of the leading candidates.
The administration declined to comment on the Wolfowitz candidacy, which was first reported in The Financial Times.
By tradition, the United States names the head of the bank, while Europe names the director of the International Monetary Fund.
Increasingly, Bush has pushed to put his mark on foreign aid policy, stressing targeted aid to countries meeting his criteria for responsible government. In the new budget proposal, foreign aid was spared the deep cuts that were made in domestic programs.
Whether Wolfowitz would be the best candidate to pursue these ideas could be questioned by some of the other big players at the World Bank.
As one of the chief architects of the Iraq war, Wolfowitz is not among the favorites of some European nations. They could take a page from the United States and block Wolfowitz's nomination just as the administration of Bill Clinton in 2000 blocked the appointment of Caio Koch Weser, the German candidate to head the International Monetary Fund, as lacking the necessary strengths.
Fiorina, the sole woman on the list, carries far less political baggage and has a reputation for dynamic leadership. As the head of a Fortune 500 company for six years, she gained managerial experience that puts her near the top of the list for the World Bank job. She would also add glamour as probably the only candidate famous enough to be known in business circles by her first name.
As the assistant secretary of state for East Asia and later U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, Wolfowitz did oversee policy covering the developing world. However, neither Wolfowitz nor Fiorina is an expert in development. |
