Wolfowitz Resigns

[filkertom]

Shmuck. He was trying to arrange his resignation, but only after the World Bank would agree to clear him of all wrongdoing. No hint of responsibility, no acceptance of the scandal he created, he wanted a frickin' free pass. Now, if only The Hague can get their hands on him....

(edited for clarity)

Comments

[stevemb.livejournal.com]

He was trying to arrange resigning after being cleared of all scandal.

What, he wasn't going to hold out for the Medal of Freedom?

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

About time, although I think schlort a term a friend coined in college is better. Definition: a man who is a schmuck, but hasn't one.

[partiallyclips.livejournal.com]

Every asinine foriegn policy decision of this administration, every war we've started, every treaty we've pulled out of, every lie we've told, every ally we've snubbed, can be traced to this man and his ideas about how the US should apply and maintain global dominance over all other nations on Earth, throughout the 21st Century.

The Russians know damn well that "missile defense" is there to establish a nuclear first strike capability, so that we can put the world under a "nuclear umbrella." That's a lovely term for "we can and will nuke any nation that gets out of line." This man's idea of security.

Sorry to hear he had a bad day.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Outstanding.

Who's next?

[maiac.livejournal.com]

The good news is Wolfowitz resigned.

The bad news is that Bush gets to nominate his replacement.

It is traditional in this Administration to replace a bad choice with a much worse choice.

Who could be even worse to lead the World Bank than Wolfowitz?

My money's on Ahmed Chalabi.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I just threw up a little in my mouth.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking that to Bush, this might look like a great way to get Gonzales off the hot-seat and put a little more gratitude in the bank.

[darthparadox.livejournal.com]

It's not a US office, so does the Senate have the right of confirmation in this case? No way in hell the Democrats are letting someone worse than Wolfowitz through. The best theory I've heard as to why Gonzalez is still around is that Bush knows he couldn't possibly get anyone he wants through confirmation as a replacement.

[stevemb.livejournal.com]

It's not a US office, so does the Senate have the right of confirmation in this case?

No -- as you said, it's not a US office, so the US Senate isn't relevant. The World Bank Board of Governors elects the bank president; electing the guy tapped by the US President is a matter of tradition, not a requirement.

[realinterrobang.livejournal.com]

And he's not a crook, either, right?

[scruffycritter.livejournal.com]

I'm actually a little sympathetic to what happened. Not much mind you, but a little. The World Bank has had much more corrupt people work there and not get fired.

Like in this case: He apparently did ask for guidance in advance on how to handle the girlfriend issue.

The rules were he couldn't be in her foodchain at all, and since he was the big boss, that would mean she would have to quit. He suggested recusing himself from all management decisions involving her.

What he got told to do was, "Move her to an entirely different job (lending her to the state dept), but compensate her with some combination of raise/promotion to make up for disruption to her career".

And that's what they did...But the raise massively exceeded guidelines.

I could buy that the "guidelines" werent taking something like this into account, but yeah, that much money was way too much.

He should go. He's no Juan Antonio Samaranch of the IOC, but he should go.

Clinton Parallel

[moquif.livejournal.com]

I didn't know much about the scandal in the beginning. My first thought was, "Girlfriend gets job. Big whoop." I thought it was an unimportant job, like what a mayor gives his lazy brother in law because his wife told him to. Plus I live in Chicagoland, this sort of thing is virtually accepted. Still wrong, but accepted. My second thought was, "Considering the trouble Clinton got in from getting a BJ from someone in his employ, should we REALLY be throwing stones."

Honestly, I still think this is a mountain out of a molehill. Or at least out of a foothill.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

It's not getting a whole lot of play in the headline stories, but some of the more detailed analysis I've heard is that the reason the World Bank staff have their knickers in such a twist is not at all that they don't like how he handled his girlfriend's job, but actually that they don't like the fact that he was shaking up their apple cart and disrupting their comfortable routine. They wanted him gone, so they raised holy hell about something they would never have batted an eyelash over if one of their own good ole boys had done it. (And frankly, when I look at the tremendous amount of damage the World Bank has done through its history, I find the premise that the bank bureaucracy is lazy and self-serving and doesn't like the idea of someone coming in with a reform agenda very credible.)

That doesn't make what Wolfowitz did right, but even when somebody I don't like is getting taken down a peg, I like to be honest about it, and Wolfowitz' departure is pure politics, with the staff getting rid of a boss they don't like and a lot of world governments seizing a convenient opportunity to poke a stick in George Bush's eye.

[mbumby.livejournal.com]

Actually, I was listening carefully to the way it was all (carefully) phrased. It sounded to me like the Bank wasn't saying "you did nothing wrong", but rather "We accept that you believe you did nothing wrong (you twit)".

And NPR this morning (during my bleary drive to work) seemed to be saying good things about the Girlfriend In Question, and was hoping that her gag order would now be off...

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

One down. Now, bets on how much longer Gonzo has his job?