President Bush and the White House on Tuesday continued to defend embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz.

Wolfowitz got in trouble over his handling of a severance package for bank employee Shaha Riza, who was also his girlfriend.

Wolfowitzs contract, as well as the banks code of conduct, requires him to steer clear of any conflicts of interest.

So a deal was worked out for Riza to move over to the State Department to avoid any such conflicts, but the World Bank continued to pay her salary. And Wolfowitz ordered that she get promotions and big raises that a World Bank investigative committee report released Monday said were unmerited and violated bank rules.

The White House said the rules violation did not amount to a firing offense.

And maybe thats true in the rarified world of the Bush administration, where the only thing that seems to merit the firing of anyone is a lack of slavish devotion to the president.

Wolfowitz was to explain his actions late Tuesday before the World Banks board of directors. The 24-member panel could fire Wolfowitz, ask for his resignation, pass a vote of no confidence or reprimand him,

Any of these actions save for a reprimand would make it difficult for Wolfowitz and his defenders to continue making a case that he should remain at the bank.

Two Bush stalwarts, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, have both come out in support of Wolfowitz, saying he should not be fired for his mistakes.

One wonders, though, how Rice would react should one of her deputies at the State Department do something similar.

And one wonders what Paulson, former chief of Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs, would have done if some subordinate had lined his girlfriends pockets with a bit of Goldmans capital.

Its no different in this case.

Wolfowitz didnt make a mistake or commit some casual error. He did something that would have landed him on the street in any private or public company if the bosses or stockholders got wind of it.

And its something that a less senior official in government already would have been fired over.

There is no ambiguity here. Wolfowitz used his position to feather his girlfriends nest.

And if his defenders in the White House, from the president on down, cant see that, you have to wonder what else is going on that they refuse to see.

Wolfowitz shouldnt be given the opportunity to resign. He should be fired.