I’m watching a press conference with Dubya at the moment with the typical angst I experience in all things Dubya. Watching him handle these questions is like watching a guy slam his pecker in a sock drawer - repeatedly. It’s horrendously painful, and yet he keeps on doing it. It’s amazing how completely senseless and meandering the answers he gives are, and yet he continues on, as if he’s waiting for the sky to crack open and Rapture to snatch him out of this uncomfortable situation. Needless to reiterate, my idea of God’s mercy differs quite a bit from his.
One topic of that’s come up of particular interest is Bush’s nomination of Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, to presidency of the World Bank. I think it safe to say that here is one man that needs to be in this position as much as I need a gaping hole in my head. Having been one of the architects of the war in Iraq as well as one of Cheney’s crutches in several positions, PW has demonstrated an attitude that decisive military action is always preferred to diplomacy. When one of the primary issues facing the World Bank is that of debt relief to numerous third-world nations, I believe that PW will not approach this presidency with the compassion that is required. This is a man that has supported this quagmire of a war (and don’t be fooled - things in Iraq are not as rosy as Bush would have us believe), far more so than the supposed “war on terror”. This is a man who saw the profitability of a war in the heart of oil country. He did not, however, calculate that we would be, in essence, fertilizing seeds of anti-Americanism in the Middle East.
Then again, maybe he did.
Meantime, there has been talk of Bono Vox’s nomination for the same position. Now, I cannot attest to how verified this talk is, but, no matter how fictional it may be, I can easily say that Bono is much more a candidate to my liking. Yes, I’ve listened to U2 almost all my life, but that has less to do with it than the fact that here is a man that has actually done something for his fellow men. He has spent time in Africa and seen firsthand what need exists in this dying continent.
Though some would think Bono a figurehead for the World Bank, I would prefer the effectiveness his forum would bring to shaming WB members into debt relief. Yes, I prefer it to the machinations of one who has steered, with hawkish policies, the actions of another figurehead president I could name.