Is Bono ready to rattle and sum?

A month after being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to erase Third World debt and help get the AIDS crisis under control in Africa, the U2 frontman is now apparently in the running to head the World Bank.

Although an American is expected to assume the post, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow praised the idea of Bono as a possible candidate for the World Bank presidency after the Irish rocker's name was submitted by the Los Angeles Times, which said in an editorial that someone other than an American should run the financial institution that doles out loans to impoverished countries.

"He's somebody I admire. He does a lot of good in this world of economic development," Snow told ABC's This Week. "Most people know him as a rock star. He's in a way a rock star of the development world too. He understands the give-and-take of development. He's a very pragmatic, effective and idealistic person."

Snow, however, declined to say whether the 44-year-old singer was actually on the short list of potential candidates the secretary is compiling for the Bush administration. Current World Bank President James Wolfensohn, an Australian-born American, is leaving the post in June after 10 years.

"I am not going to review here all the candidates that are on the list. But I will attest to my admiration for Bono," he added.

Snow also refused to confirm whether friend and former Hewlett-Packard honcho Carly Fiorina was being considered for the job. Since its founding in 1944, the World Bank has traditionally been run by an American, while Europe usually picks the head of its sibling institution, the International Monetary Fund.

The Los Angeles Times suggested it was time for the United States to turn over bank leadership to a credible non-American who understands the problems plaguing Third World countries.

"Don't be fooled by the wraparound sunglasses and excess hipness," said the Times. "Bono is deeply versed in the issues afflicting the least-developed nations of the world."

Talk about your pro-Bono work. First the Nobel? Now this? What's next--President of the Free World?

Once U2 took flight in the early 1980s, Bono (real name: Paul Hewson) began championing the cause of developing nations. He and his wife spent six weeks volunteering in an Ethiopian refugee camp in 1984, he sang a lead vocal line on Band Aid's 1984 charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and appeared at 1985's Live Aid concert, which raised millions for famine relief in Africa.

Bono has since taken his crusade to various diplomats and heads of state. In 2002, he embarked on a tour of World Bank-sponsored projects in Africa with Snow's predecessor, Paul O'Neill, to lobby for debt relief for the globe's poorest continent.

But Snow seeks to qualm the fears of U2 fans who would prefer seeing Bono working arenas than pushing paper, saying an American will eventually be chosen to lead the World Bank.

"I fully expect that to be the case, yes, and so the G-7 (Group of Seven) finance ministers and all of the participants in the process," Snow said. "I've had any number of calls from finance ministers from around the world saying they want it to be an American."

No immediate comment from the U2 camp on Bono's banking plans--perhaps because the band is ramping up for a big month.

U2 is set to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Mar. 14. Then the quartet will hit the road for its first world tour in three years in support of How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

The group's sold-out Vertigo trek kicks off Mar. 28 in San Diego and wends its way through North America throughout the spring before heading to Europe for the summer. The band will then return to the U.S. for a round of dates in the fall.