“W” And The Shoe – Great On His Feet

Journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi, who was kidnapped by Shiite militants last year, was being held by Iraqi security Monday and interrogated about whether anybody paid him to throw his shoes at Bush during a press conference the previous day in Baghdad, said an Iraqi official. Showing the sole of your shoe to someone in the Arab world is a sign of extreme disrespect, and throwing your shoes is even worse. Image Credit: Newsday

“W” And The Shoe – Great On His Feet

One thing everyone could count on from George, that he was always best on his feet.

He starts the importance of his presidency standing in the rubble of the World Trade Center Towers with his arm draped around the shoulders of an old time firefighter, stating, “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”

George W. Bush ends his presidency ducking a couple of shoes hurled at him by a reporter in Iraq (a cultural sign of disrespect), turning the situation into a lesson in democracy by first stating “I’m OK,” “All I can report is it is a size 10,” and then later to reporters on how he understood the act, "It's like going to a political rally and have people yell at you. It's a way for people to draw attention," Bush said. "I don't know what the guy's cause was. I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it."

Lesson - In a democracy it is always OK to express a difference of opinion (even though the reporter that threw the shoes, who was escorted out by Iraqi officials, was promptly beaten).

How will history treat George Bush?

I have a suspicion it’s going to be better then a lot of people now suspect - or are willing to admit.

If only he could have pulled out a veto pen and used it as easily and with the athletic deft he showed he could dodge a shoe! …

… if he had, the way history will treat “W” would have been not only favorable, but great.