An Iraqi reporter threw a shoe at the lame duck while calling him a dog at his last press conference in Baghdad.
"This is a gift from the Iraqis. This is the farewell kiss, you dog," Muntadar al-Zeidi shouted in Arabic as he threw his shoe at Bush during a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The shoe narrowly missed the president's head. See http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-12-14-bushshoe_N.htm
Apparently, Islamic custom interprets the action as an insult even though the west interprets a similar action -- throwing your shoe for your dog to fetch and chew on -- as playful. Given his ineptitude and resultant dismal failures, the lame duck should be flattered that anyone bothered to show up at all, and treat the unexpected presentation of flying shoes a gift of relevancy.
It is interesting to note that none of the world's leaders condemned the Iraqi journalist for terrorizing a head of state with his shoes. Even the lame duck's body guards did not bother to surround him immediately to protect him from an onslaught of shoes that could be thrown by the other journalists. Unlike al-Zeidi, perhaps they viewed him as irrelevant, undeserving and dispensable: a worthless nobody. Perhaps that is what he has become.
Comments are closed for this post.
