It appears the Bush administration went with the safest choice from a shortlist of possibilities in selecting former US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick as the next president of the World Bank. It could be argued that now is certainly not the time in his presidency for Bush to pick fights with other nations, and naming another ideologue like Paul Wolfowitz could have electrified the world community enough to revisit the arrangement which gives the US president the power to name the head of the Bank.

The Center for Global Development, this thinking-man's go-to on World Bank issues, is surely busily drafting a cogent analysis of the upsides and downsides to a Zoellick presidency. The survey conducted last week by the Center seeking information about the traits the next WB president should have and the potential candidates for the position revealed a perfectly acceptable but hardly resounding assessment of Zoellick.

At this point in the Bush presidency, perfectly acceptable is about all they can hope for.

UPDATE: Foreign Policy Magazine's Passport blog offers a ringing endorsement of Zoellick.