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LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank

By Jeralyn, Section Foreign Affairs
Posted on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 05:51:17 AM EST
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U-2 lead singer and rock star Bono has been nominated for a Nobel Prize. But the LA Times, in an editorial, says that's not his calling, and makes a convincing case for arguing that Bono should be appointed President of the World Bank.

Bono may not have a PhD in economics, but he'd have plenty of real economists around the bank to consult. Bono is the most eloquent and passionate spokesman for African aid in the Western world. And given that both ex-President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have in recent years made Africa one of their focuses, that's saying something.

Bono led the Drop the Debt campaign in 2000, seeking to forgive billions in loans to the Third World, and in 2002 he co-founded Debt, AIDS and Trade in Africa, a serious group that seeks to raise awareness of Africa's problems and lobby governments to help solve them. It could hardly ask for a better spokesman than its founder, whose fame has helped open doors that other lobbyists spend decades trying to crack.

The Times points out that "Brand America" is not doing well around the world.

President Bush, who has a large say in who will get the job, should realize that Brand America and the branding of both the World Bank and development generally would benefit greatly if Bono gets the nod.

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    • LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank | 40 comments (40 topical)
    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#1)
    by demohypocrates on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 03:56:29 AM EST
    Honest question: Would TL ever endorse a non-lawyer for the Supreme Court? Having your heart in the right place should not overly impress the resume readers.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 04:37:29 AM EST
    Well, given how poorly the world bank is run, hard to imagine he could do any worse. -C

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 05:20:02 AM EST
    And Africa couldn't get much more screwed up, so its spokesman wouldn't be missed all that much.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 07:12:20 AM EST
    And what criteria was used to determine eloquence and passion? This just sounds like someone at the LAT is brown nosing for free seats to the new tour.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 07:13:17 AM EST
    With so much Bling in his teef, I'd rather nominate Public Enemy. How about Fity-Cent to lead UN-IAEA. He could teach a couple of things to Hans Blix. Or mabey Carnie Wilson, for FAO. She can teach the world a thing or two about World Hunger Hey Gloria Estefan can run the UNHCR. As a Refugee herself, she'd make a great Commissioner for Refugee. Couldn't they all shut-up and sing, and keep away from politics.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 07:17:28 AM EST
    Would be a wonderful thing. The guy has principles and integrity. Not bad qualifications for a bank president. He also probably has enough money of his own, little need to pilfer the till. Yes, I am ready to see Bono run the bank. And by the way, people sing when they are oppressed. Freedom songs. We shall overcome. Amazing grace. Singing comes from heart and soul. It has political manifestations. Deep in my heart I believe that we shall overcome one day.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 07:45:22 AM EST
    Conscious Angel, It's been said that Music is, those sounds which speak to, and cause a reaction in your soul. If we are to accept the above definition, musicians then must have a direct link to the emotions of their soul. unfortunately, you can't manage a gigant bureaucracy such as that one with heartstrings of your emotions.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 07:51:14 AM EST
    Sorry for the lapse; the above was mine.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 08:27:40 AM EST
    CA writes - "Singing comes from heart and soul." So what does that say to rap songs that call women "whoes and bit*ches," and speaks of killing police?

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 08:30:07 AM EST
    PPK, Unfortunately, some souls are far, far away from the light.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#11)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 08:38:08 AM EST
    So much for right wing brainstorming. You folks got any better suggestions than your infnatile put downs? I guess any attempt at positive change is met with the usual rhetoric. Unfortunately, some souls are far, far away from the light. Boy you got that right!

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 08:52:00 AM EST
    Chechito, As a musician, I love Bono's crooning. He is trully and inspired individual. But just because he can carry a tune, doesn't qualify him to run that unyieldy bureacracy.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 09:00:51 AM EST
    CA writes - "Singing comes from heart and soul." So what does that say to rap songs that call women "whoes and bit*ches," and speaks of killing police? Well, first I am not much of a fan of rap, so I am not real qualified to explain or defend the genre, but generally speaking, I am inclined to think that the type of lyrics come from dark hearts and souls. Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can drive out darkness. It's blowing in the wind. I still believe, deep in my heart, that we shall overcome some day. Bono as banker? Why not.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 09:04:07 AM EST
    "you can't manage a gigant bureaucracy such as that one with heartstrings of your emotions." So you say. But as Robert Kennedy said: some men see things as they are and say why? I dream of things that never were, and say why not? Someday, someday, I still believe that we shall overcome. Why not today?

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 09:26:23 AM EST
    Well, when Bono can succinctly recite the importance on managing the average Duration of European Bond Issues vis a vis its effect on the value of the Euro against the Yen, I'll be listening.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 09:27:36 AM EST
    Well Bono is about as qualified to run the World Bank as Cher or Celine. What a thought. People with beautiful singing voices need to sing. When they are done singing, they need to keep their ignorant mouths shut. It's horrific to hear their idealistic babble, based on feel-good emotions and the desire to do wonderful things with OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 09:31:43 AM EST
    So, another round of poor people in rich countries giving money to rich people in poor countries, then? Bono consultant to world bank, why not? Head world bank? C'mon.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 09:59:15 AM EST
    Bono running a huge bureaucracy. Odds are it'd be like a jail sentence to him. To me too.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#19)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 10:32:05 AM EST
    Bono? How about Bill Gates; he has arguable done more in philanthropy than any man alive or dead, and with a head for business to boot. True, he’s no economist, however more so than Bono. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation had an endowment of over $25 billion by 2002, giving out $1.2 billion that year alone. Bono seems more like a PR man in comparison.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#20)
    by Linkmeister on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 10:39:47 AM EST
    If anyone of you knee-jerk nay-sayers bothered to click the link, you'd notice that the article makes the (unquestionably accurate) point that the World Bank has plenty of economists with whom he could consult. It's not entirely necessary to be one to run the place. As I recall, the guy who turned IBM around in the 90s was formerly head of Nabisco. The joke at the time was that at least both industries sold chips.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 10:52:32 AM EST
    But you see Linkmeister, To run the National Biscuit Company, you must have a knack at managing a big, bureaucratic organization. IBM and Nabisco, share that same common trait. A far cry from managing an ensemble of bohemian musicians.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#22)
    by chupetin on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 12:00:02 PM EST
    why do right-wingers have problem with this? Arent they the ones that think actors make the best presidents

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#23)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 12:22:38 PM EST
    No, I have changed my mind about Bono. Why should let this unqualified guy be considered for an important job like World Bank when Jeff Skillings and Ken Lay, who are both eminently qualified to manage a financial empire, are both out of work and probably available. Don't know what I was thinking!

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#24)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 12:37:52 PM EST
    I think that the wingnuts like actors because when they "open their ignorant mouths" you know what will be said if you have seen the script. Now back to your regularly scheduled program...

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 01:27:26 PM EST
    Conscios angel, Bono's sincerity and compassion are indeed attributes which would qualify him for World Bank President. But, they aren't sufficient. Jimmy Carter also possessed these traits, and in addition you could argue a superior intelligence (he was a nuclear engineer). But, much as I respect him as a man, he was a less than a great president. His compassion induced him to use price controls which only worsened the condition for those he was trying to protect. No, unfortunately, sincerity and compassion alone are not sufficient.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 02:19:43 PM EST
    mid - Actually, that is a very well believed but not quite true statement about carter. Not the lousy president thing, but the Nuclear Engineer. He was the Engineering Officer for an early atomic sub, the Sea Wolf. He did do the Navy's course for nuclear sub work and did also take graduate level courses in nuclear design and reactor design. He did not complete his coursework and was not even ABD. I should mention that I only know this because my grandfather was a Nuclear Physist and he thought Carter was the worst possible Southern choice for president. :-) -C

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#27)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 02:24:55 PM EST
    Cliff; I stand corrected. I knew some of this, but didn't know the details you mention. I agree with you that he was an ineffective president. He has made a better ambassador for America in the world forum than our leader. I feel he is a very virtuous man, but not a leader.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#28)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 03:19:04 PM EST
    Cliff, Thank you for pointing out something that explains a great deal. I had always wondered how someone who had "a degree in nuclear physics" could have been so lame as a president, and been such a left leaning, emotion-based failure to boot. Ha. He DIDN'T HAVE A friggin degree in nuclear physics at all! He had a bachelor's degree and took a couple of classes in nuclear physics (or presumably at least one class). He might have received an F or a W (for withdrawal) for all we know. Big deal. So he is about as intelligent as Gore or Bush or Kerry. That exlains the religious babble, the failed price controls, the horrific economic blunders, etc. Another urban legend bites the dust. Cliff, I can honestly say this is the first time I have learned something from this blog in perhaps 2 months. Thanks.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#29)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 04:03:11 PM EST
    Oh Cliff Oh Cliff You are the BEST!!!!

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#30)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 05:27:43 PM EST
    In regards to Carter's Naval Service, I will not knock him down. He was an able Naval Officer, and deserves the outmost respect for his service to our country. With regard to the on-going Bono thread... if the World Bank wishes to have a new spokesman, Bono could make a great communicator. But to crown him as President of the WB, please spear us the indingnity.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#31)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 05:32:32 PM EST
    I don't think that the president of wb comes with a crown. I know with our current imperial presidency in this country we might think that, but I am pretty sure no crown. Pope gets to wear a funny hat, but not a crown either, I think. so not to worry, bosco, you won't have the spear the dingie or whatever you were trying to say.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#32)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 07:23:02 PM EST
    CA - That was one of the best summations of an artist's heart I have ever read. Your other posts cracked me up. I go with Cliff's original post, what the heck, he can't do any worse. And, not for nothing, but he does run a small commercial empire. Between the band, his charities, speaking engagements and photo ops his scheduling is intense and requires a large staff despensing a large amount of money. The difference you get with Bono, is you know his heart is in the right place. Re: Rap - branding all of rap music by your sterotype is a troll move. I personally care for very little of it, but as a genre it encompasses a lot more than that. It can have a poetry that reflects the feelings of a community or the angst of a a soul trying to make their way in the world. There is probably as much valid rap as there any other genre in music, you just don't hear it on the radio.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#33)
    by Ray Radlein on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 11:34:53 PM EST
    Had Jimmy Carter's father not died, causing him to leave the service to run the family farm, he would have been a shoo-in Admiral. He was pretty much the definition of a fast-track officer: Hyman Rickover selected him personally to run the Seawolf; he trained the engineering crew himself, and worked closely with the reactor design team. He had already, by that time, served as XO on the first post-WWII US sub. He would almost certainly have had his own boat by 1960, and made Admiral by the mid-'60s, at the latest. He was an Engineer by training, with postgraduate coursework and a level of hands-on experience matched by few individuals ever (if for no other reason than the fact that the Seawolf had the only liquid Sodium reactor the USN ever used in a sub). Calling him a "Nuclear Engineer" is not in any way whatsoever an exageration; he fully met the professional requirements and standards necessary.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#34)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 27, 2005 at 07:30:09 AM EST
    Rocker - Pointing out the violence in some Rap lyrics is not trollish. It is factual. The inability of the music industry to police itself and get rid of these lyrics is bothersome. Boq - Yes, and even when there is a knack, a person from outside that individual industry is still likely to fail because they have no real foundation that will allow them to know when the information is "not quite right." Hal Geenen (ITT) had it, his successors did not. et al - Speaking of Geenen, all this talk of "feelings" reminds me of the wonder word, "synergy." This 16 year old link shows us that evolution must be correct because mankind doesn't learn from experience. Ray R - He was smart. He wasn't a nuclear engineer.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#35)
    by pigwiggle on Sun Feb 27, 2005 at 08:13:46 AM EST
    "Pointing out the violence in some Rap lyrics is not trollish. It is factual. The inability of the music industry to police itself and get rid of these lyrics is bothersome." Almost none of Chuck D's message is negative. Public Enemy isn't gangsta rap.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#36)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 27, 2005 at 08:17:55 AM EST
    PPJ, We are on the same page as far as CEO qualifications are concerned. Though not required, an ideal CEO should come out of the same industry; though at a minimum must have exceptional organizational skills to run such a multi-tentacled organization. I won't hold my breath, on Bono describing the Management of the Average Duration on Bond Issues. On James Earl Carter, I can differentiate his Naval from his Political Careers. As a Naval Officer, he served with outmost distinction. He may not have had a full BS on Nuclear Engineering, the USN prides itself in being very thorough in educating its Sub Officers on the intricacies of Nuclear Power-plants. I once knew a very able Lt. who ran the Engineering Department of a Boomer Sub. As a formal education, all he had was a BA in French Literature, and was commissioned out of NROTC from a liberal arts college. He knew his stuff though. Back on Carter: as a politician, our 39th Prez had a completely different persona. That's where I may quibble with you. You are letting his failures in public life, blind you from his successes in his earlier career.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#37)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 27, 2005 at 08:38:12 AM EST
    pigwiggle - Lyrics calling women whoes and bit*ches are okay? Come on. Next thing you'll tell me is that advertising doesn't work. As for killing police, or anyone, in a song, that is over the edge. Rap is listened to by kids. Kids are impressionable. Gangsta Rap is replete with bad examples, including the killing of each other. Boq - My point is this. The navy has great technical schools, and they train their people very well. But an engineer is qualified to design something. That is the difference between a technician and an engineer.. I met Carter on a UAL flight from Portland to Denver. He was setting one row up from me, in coach. He was a very nice person. But yes, he was close to being the worst President of the 20th Century.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#38)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 27, 2005 at 12:30:15 PM EST
    Yes PPJ, censorship is always the answer.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#39)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 27, 2005 at 04:38:02 PM EST
    Rocker - There are certain things that you do to protect your children. Free speech that destroys them is a price I am not willing to pay. And it would be a corrupt society that did not recognize that.

    Re: LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank (none / 0) (#40)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 27, 2005 at 05:38:18 PM EST
    My point was not to trash Carter's honorable service. My point was that we were fed a steady diet of "Jimmy Carter had advanced degrees in Nuclear Physics" for about 30 years. Remember, we didn't have google back then, and who woulda thunk the newspapers were feeding us that bogus info on our main man? Being an engineer, and having studied advanced mathematics, I know a few things about average engineering minds (like me) and superbrains like a kid named Bill Pascoe who could get a 100 on every physics test without even working the problems at the end of the chapter. Anyway, what always stumped me was that these types are almost never xtians, like Carter. Try finding a Nobel Laureate in physics, math, or chemistry who is a xtian. Good luck. You'll have as much luck finding a white 100 meter gold medal winner in the Olympics. Jimmy Carter isn't nearly as intelligent as we were told. That is all too clear in hindsight.

    LA Times: Bono Should Head World Bank | 40 comments (40 topical)