President Barack Obama names a great progressive, Jim Yong Kim, as America’s choice to head the World Bank

Heart­en­ing news from the Oth­er Wash­ing­ton this morn­ing: Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma has named Dart­mouth pres­i­dent Jim Yong Kim — a glob­al health expert and a skilled pro­gres­sive leader — as the Unit­ed States’ choice to head the World Bank after Robert Zoel­lick steps down in June.

“Jim has spent more than two decades work­ing to improve con­di­tions in devel­op­ing coun­tries around the world,” said Pres­i­dent Oba­ma in a state­ment released by the White House. “The World Bank is one of the most pow­er­ful tools we have to reduce pover­ty and raise stan­dards of liv­ing around the globe, and Jim’s per­son­al expe­ri­ence and years of ser­vice make him an ide­al can­di­date for this job.”

At a press con­fer­ence in the Rose Gar­den, stand­ing along­side U.S. Sec­re­tary of State Hillary Clin­ton, Oba­ma intro­duced Kim and explained why he thinks the World Bank needs a new kind of leader:

Now, despite its name, the World Bank is more than just a bank. It’s one of the most pow­er­ful tools we have to reduce pover­ty and raise stan­dards of liv­ing in some of the poor­est coun­tries on the plan­et. And in a world that is grow­ing small­er and more con­nect­ed every day, that’s a crit­i­cal mis­sion -– not just for those who are strug­gling, but for all of us.

When we reduce hunger in the world, or help a farmer recov­er from a flood or a drought, it strength­ens the entire world econ­o­my.  When we put an end to a pre­ventable dis­ease, all of us are safer because of it.  When an entre­pre­neur can start a new busi­ness, it cre­ates jobs in their coun­try, but also opens up new mar­kets for our coun­try.  And ulti­mate­ly, when a nation goes from pover­ty to pros­per­i­ty, it makes the world stronger and more secure for everybody.

That’s why the World Bank is so impor­tant.  And that’s why the leader of the World Bank should have a deep under­stand­ing of both the role that devel­op­ment plays in the world, and the impor­tance of cre­at­ing con­di­tions where assis­tance is no longer needed.

I believe that nobody is more qual­i­fied to car­ry out that mis­sion than Dr. Jim Kim. It’s time for a devel­op­ment pro­fes­sion­al to lead the world’s largest devel­op­ment agency. And that’s why today, after a care­ful and thor­ough search, I am nom­i­nat­ing Dr. Jim Kim to be the next pres­i­dent of the World Bank.

Empha­sis is ours.

We strong­ly agree, and we thank Pres­i­dent Oba­ma for mak­ing this nom­i­na­tion. The world com­mu­ni­ty will be well served with Dr. Kim at the helm of the World Bank.

Dr. Kim has spent years fight­ing HIV/AIDS in Africa and work­ing to improve human­i­ty’s defens­es against infec­tious dis­eases. Pri­or to becom­ing pres­i­dent of Dart­mouth Col­lege in 2009, Dr. Kim was involved with the col­lege’s Cen­ter for Health Care Deliv­ery Ser­vice (which he found­ed), as well as Part­ners in Health (which he helped launch) and the U.N.‘s World Health Orga­ni­za­tion (where he served as the head of the Depart­ment of HIV/AIDS). He holds degrees from Brown and Har­vard and belongs to the Nation­al Acad­e­my of Sci­ences’ Insti­tute of Medicine.

Dis­tin­guished econ­o­mist Jef­frey Sachs, who recruit­ed him­self for the job (and was nom­i­nat­ed by sev­er­al oth­er coun­tries) in the hopes of encour­ag­ing Pres­i­dent Oba­ma to pick some­one like him­self or Dr. Kim, said he was thrilled.

“Dr. Jim Kim is a superb nom­i­nee for the World Bank pres­i­den­cy,” Sachs said in a state­ment released to the press announc­ing that he was with­draw­ing his can­di­da­cy. “I con­grat­u­late the admin­is­tra­tion for nom­i­nat­ing a world-class devel­op­ment leader for this position.”

His spokes­woman, Erin Trow­bridge added: “Pro­fes­sor Sachs sup­ports Dr Kim one hun­dred per­cent and with com­plete enthusiasm.”

Mark Weis­brot, co-direc­tor of the Cen­ter for Eco­nom­ic and Pol­i­cy Research (one of Amer­i­ca’s best pro­gres­sive think tanks, which stud­ies issues affect­ing the world com­mu­ni­ty) described the nom­i­na­tion as his­toric and unprecedented.

“This is a huge step for­ward. If Kim becomes World Bank Pres­i­dent, he’ll be the first qual­i­fied pres­i­dent in six­ty-eight years,” Weis­brot said.  “Kim’s nom­i­na­tion is a vic­to­ry for all the peo­ple, orga­ni­za­tions, and gov­ern­ments that stood up to the Oba­ma admin­is­tra­tion and demand­ed an open, mer­it-based process.”

The White House was report­ed­ly con­sid­er­ing nom­i­nat­ing dis­cred­it­ed econ­o­mist Lar­ry Sum­mers — who advised Pres­i­dent Oba­ma on eco­nom­ic issues dur­ing his first two years in office — but appar­ent­ly dropped that idea after encoun­ter­ing resis­tance from oth­er coun­tries, mem­bers of Con­gress, and NGOs.

The World Bank has nev­er had a pres­i­dent who was­n’t either a polit­i­cal insid­er or a banker, so Kim’s nom­i­na­tion is indeed his­toric, and wel­come. Already it is draw­ing praise from around the globe. Pres­i­dent Paul Kagame of Rwan­da had this to say after learn­ing of Dr. Kim’s nomination:

I was delight­ed to learn that Jim Kim has been nom­i­nat­ed for this post, as he is a true friend of Africa and well known for his decade of work to sup­port us in devel­op­ing an effi­cient health sys­tem in Rwan­da. He’s not only a physi­cian and a leader who knows what it takes to address pover­ty, but also a gen­uine­ly good per­son. Pres­i­dent Obama’s nom­i­na­tion of Dr. Kim as Pres­i­dent of the World Bank is a wel­come one, and should res­onate well with the many men and women who are work­ing to trans­form lives around the world.

Kim is not guar­an­teed to become the next World Bank pres­i­dent. How­ev­er, some­one from the Unit­ed States has always held the post, and Europe and Japan will like­ly back Dr. Kim’s nom­i­na­tion, there­by ensur­ing that the job goes to him.

At least one oth­er cred­i­ble can­di­date has been nom­i­nat­ed: Ngozi Okon­jo-Iweala, who serves as Nige­ri­a’s Min­is­ter of Finance. Iweala will like­ly make the short list of can­di­dates that the World Bank’s board will choose from.

The board is expect­ed to make a deci­sion by April 21st.