If the Shoe Fits

Bush is certainly an easy target for jokes--but a slightly harder target for shoes. He does get points for moving to his left (a first for him) and avoiding two hard thrown shoes from close range. Baseball seems to have paid off for him.

But this story is actually more important than it may seem. It is about more than an angry journalist, an offended Iraqi and an affronted Muslim--all rolled into one guy. Yes, we all know by now that throwing shoes is deeply insulting in the Arab World. Even showing someone the sole of your shoe is an affront. Having lived in the Arab World, I'll tell you a smart executive does not put his feet up on the desk or even on an ottoman. Shoes are, after all, covered with dirt and all kinds of things found on streets and in alleys. Exposing someone to the sole of a shoe is symbolically to smear their faces with dirt and excrement.

Aside from the symbolism and the rage it expresses, this shoe story has, well, legs. It captures in a few seconds the microcosm of Bush and Iraq. At one level, everyone involved looks bad. Bush is a target of disrespect while on his legacy tour. The Secret Service is caught flatfooted and it is left to al-Maliki to try to ward off the second shoe. Al-Maliki looks bad for having his hospitality sullied by such disrespect to his personal guest. The laws of hospitality are taken seriously in the Arab World. The Iraqi justice system (is this term an oxymoron?) also looks bad. The pitcher is not only taken out of the game but then is beaten senseless by the police.

If this were not enough to make this iconic moment live in history, the shoe-thrower has become a hero--not only amongst his fellow Shiites in Iraq but also all across the Muslim World. He has brought warring rival nations and Muslim sects together in a precious, if precarious, moment of agreement. They agree that Bush has not brought peace, justice or the American way to the still violent and dysfunctional land of Iraq or to the Middle East.

You can duck a shoe, but history is harder to avoid.

©2008 Jonathan Dobrer
www.dobrer.org