WORLD BANK WATCH: ENTER THE FRIST
Blake Hounshell

Foreign Policy
May 24 2007

PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFPIn what is likely a trial balloon floated by
the White House, the Wall Street Journal’s Greg Hitt reports that
former Senate Majority Leader Bill First is on the shortlist to
be the next president of the World Bank and "is getting especially
close scrutiny for the job." That’s not likely to make too many folks
happy at the development institution, which is still seething from
Paul Wolfowitz’s tenure. Of course, there’s always the possibility
that the Bush administration is floating Frist’s name as a courtesy,
and that he’s not being seriously considered for a job that ought to
require someone with the brains and experience of a Robert Zoellick
or Robert Kimmitt.

A handful of countries-including Brazil, South Korea, China and
Pakistan-are on record saying that the United States should no longer
be selecting the Bank’s president unilaterally, but it looks like
the Bush administration is moving fast enough to prevent a broader
movement from developing.

If Frist doesn’t fit the bill, one possibility is for Bush to nominate
someone who doesn’t sound American, such as his Harvard Business
School pal Vasken Setrakian, who is of Armenian descent. But I doubt
many people would be fooled by that.