Sedona AZ (December 16, 2008) — I just can’t resist putting in my two cents on the recent shoe-throwing incident in Baghdad where our President was subject to a degrading attack no head of state has ever had to endure.
What impressed me was not the “cojones” of the journalist who threw the shoes and made a statement heard and seen round the world concerning the war in Iraq, seen by many as a death machine that killed so many of its youth, woman and children. Nor was I impressed by the level of the insult symbolized by the throwing of a shoe in the Arab world where the one aimed at is considered lower than dirt. Nor was I impressed by the global publicity the event caused and how fitting a goodbye it was to one symbolized as ordering the invasion of Iraq.
Nope. What really impressed me was Bush’s incredible reflexes and how deftly he dodged the footwear missiles.
Watching the video over and over one could see how the President spotted his shoe thrower and began moving his head to the left even before the attacker let go of the shoe. In a split second, Bush gauged the direction of the projectile, moved his head just ever so slightly to the left and the shoe sailed by.
Sugar Ray Leonard could not have so deftly dodged a punch as our president did the shoe.
Bush ducked his head down and he snapped it right back up again, poised like a cat, his gaze fixed with no fear in his eye, on the attacker. He even stood straight up, not ducking down behind the podium, to better see his attacker’s next move.
Bush saw the thrower winding up with the second shoe and kept his gaze trained on him. I’m sure he looked the shoe thrower dead in the eye. He saw it coming, and barely flinched as the Iraqi Prime Minister put is hand up blocking Bush’s view. Instead of dodging, Bush brought his left hand up to block his face should the second shoe have gotten through. Had Bush dodged to the left as he did when the first shoe was thrown he would have been hit. But he kept his head. He was so cool, that when a security person went to shield him, Bush waved him off.
Wow! I was shocked. He showed courage, grace under fire, coolness and an ability to act correctly by reflex alone.
Where the world saw a President mocked and dishonored on global TV for his war crimes, I saw a man stand tall and cool under fire.
The President so deftly handled the incident he joked that the shoe “Was a size 10.” Meaning that his reflexes were so fast he was able to read the shoe size as it flew past.
Finally, he did something to impress me — eight years after becoming the President. Though it will be difficult to forget what he brought to the world and our country, it will be the way he dodged the shoes that I will always remember.
Article written and submitted by Tommy Acosta for Sedona Times – SedonaTimes.com.
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