Conventional wisdom always prefers the failed approaches and policies of the present. After decades of unconscionable lending policies by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, conventional wisdom insists that the first requirement for the job as the planet's top banker is grey eminence and a tolerance for indigenous corruption that facilitates the one-sided flow of capital from the South to the North.

Sure, it may have been conventional wisdom that helped create massive Third World debt in the first place, but appointing a leader to that august body of money lenders who believes in Old Testament concepts like the forgiveness of debt and the year of jubilee isn't the kind of thing a responsible bureaucracy of technocrats should consider, is it?

Let there be no doubt: appointing Paul "Bono" Hewson of U2 to the presidency of the World Bank would be a paradigm shift of biblical proportions. Besides, conventional wisdom says that usury of the kind the West engages in is not only ethical, despite what every major religion has to say about it, but good business practice, too.

So it's not surprising that the establishment and its running dogs in the media consider the chances of Bono's election to the president's chair at the World Bank slim-to-none, despite U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow's kind words about one of the world's savviest philanthropists and debt relief activists on ABC's "This Week."

"I am not going to review here all the candidates that are on the list," Snow said on a program that goes out of its way to deliver conventional wisdom in a conventional way, "but I will attest to my admiration for Bono. He does a lot of good in this world of economic development. Most people know him as a rock star -- he's in a way a rock star of the developmental world, too. He understands the give-and-take of development. He's a very pragmatic, effective and idealistic person."

Not a bad endorsement coming from the guy who took over at Treasury after Bono's pal, Paul O'Neill, stepped down from that post during Bush's first term. Even folks who disagree with Bono's morality admire his intellect. O'Neill fell in love with the Irish rocker during a fact-finding mission across Africa.

Several years ago when Bono lobbied Capitol Hill for African debt forgiveness and increased funding for AIDS programs on that continent, he reportedly had Sens. Jesse Helms, Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch eating out of his hand.

As unlikely as it sounds, the ultraconservative Helms speaks warmly of Bono, calling him a friend and one of the most knowledgeable and sensible experts on Third World debt relief around. Helms hates usury and exorbitant interest rates the way good Christians, Jews and Muslims have for centuries.

With glowing endorsements from across the American political spectrum, you'd think Bono could get some respect from the hacks and handicappers who dismiss his candidacy as utopian name-dropping. Being on the short list for a Nobel Peace Prize is one thing, but serious consideration for the top seat at the World Bank ought to be reserved for the likes of comb-licking chicken hawk Paul Wolfowitz or recently deposed Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.

Wolfowitz recently withdrew his name from consideration, perhaps fearing the judgment of those outside the Beltway who would consider his candidacy a travesty on its face. As for Fiorina, rewarding the telegenic executive for a job not well done at HP would be ridiculous even by Washington's abysmally low standards.

Other candidates include former New Jersey Gov. Christie Todd Whitman and John Taylor, undersecretary of international affairs at the World Bank.

Daring to think outside the box, the editorial page of the Los Angeles Times heartily endorsed Bono, arguing that the singer would enhance the institution's image and "sell its poverty-reduction mission far more effectively than the other deserving candidates."

Of course he could, but acknowledging that obvious fact would require defying conventional wisdom. And we can't have that, now, can we?