White House Still Well Behind the Wolfowitz Curve

The attempts by the Bush administration to do right by Paul Wolfowitz are touching, if laughably inadequate. Apparently the latest trial balloon being floated by the White House is that Wolfowtiz gets absolved on the grounds of "acting in good faith", and then, maybe, at some unspecified point in the future, he resigns (or doesn't) on fluffier grounds associated with his leadership.

Not only is this idea clearly about a month too late, it also ignores the fact that the Bank's board has already found Wolfowitz guilty, not to mention the fact that Wolfowitz's whiny pleas yesterday went into no little detail about how he wanted to change his leadership style – thereby giving him a loophole which would allow him, under the proposed US deal, to stay on.

Steven Weisman, of the New York Times, does raise one hope with his choice of words, only to dash it later on in the sentence:

It appeared that the best the administration could hope for was the possibility of President Bush appealing personally to Prime Minister Tony Blair, with whom he is scheduled to meet at the White House on Wednesday, and to other elected leaders.

I can't imagine that there would be much opposition if Bush could persuade Blair to replace Wolfowitz. But that option, it seems, is not on the table.