Bush's choice reaffirms his agenda

WASHINGTON — President Bush had an impressive list of candidates to choose from when he sat down with aides earlier this month to choose a new nominee as president of the World Bank, the global anti-poverty organization.

Among them were Carly Fiorina, the highly visible former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, and Randall L. Tobias, former head of the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and now the administration's global AIDS coordinator. Bush also could have warmed relations with allies by choosing one of any number of foreign finance ministers.

Instead, the president tabbed one of his most controversial aides — U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz. Coming a week after he chose conservative John R. Bolton as his ambassador to the United Nations, the move was seen as a major provocation of the same allies the president had been working to cultivate.

But the move offered important insights into Bush and his approach to his second term, showing a willingness to upset allies that makes him unusual among recent U.S. presidents.

Bush's choice of Wolfowitz and Bolton also highlighted his willingness to act on deeply held ideological beliefs. In the case of the World Bank and United Nations, Bush shares the view that the United States must assert U.S. leadership of major multinational institutions, U.S. officials and Republicans close to the administration said. Bush believes these institutions need urgent reform to bring them more in line with the administration's focus on fostering democracy and free-market economics in poor countries.

Bush's choices also show that he believes the best way to ensure reform is by putting loyal aides in top jobs. He is impervious to criticism from abroad, believing progress toward democracy in Iraq, the West Bank and elsewhere proves him right.

One U.S. official said last week that the Wolfowitz and Bolton nominations reflect the fact that, "The president always picks people with long-term goals in mind." The administration's interest in reforming both the United Nations and the World Bank, he added, "have not been a secret."

International reaction to the choice of Wolfowitz has been strong. A committee of the European Parliament expressed "great concern" last week over Wolfowitz, a candidate described by Parliament member Luisa Morgantini of Italy, head of its development committee, as a leading advocate of "democracy by arms." Some European officials considered trying to block the choice, while a number of diplomats predicted the Wolfowitz selection would damage the fence-mending effort begun by Bush during his February trip to the continent.