Shoes Away!

Go watch the footage of the dude throwing his shoes at George W Bush. It is worth seeing in its own right, as it is a great piece of political commentary and an canny review of the eight years of President Bush Junior. But watch it carefully. Watch for the look on Dubya’s face as the shoes sail over his head. Do you see it? Just for a moment, it is there – partially hidden by the blur of the camera movement. But it is there. The smirk. The smirk that so many people have come to know and despise over the past eight years.

See, if someone threw a shoe at me, I wouldn’t smirk. In fact – even if the shoes missed me – I’d be pissed off. I’d probably be using some rather brutal language to express my disgust at their behaviour. But then again, I think I have a very different mindset to George W Bush. That said, I reckon this is what he was thinking as he smirked:

“Hurr, hurr, throwing shoes. Hurr, hurr. Good prank, dude. Gonna do that to Cheney. He’ll love it. Hurr Hurr.”

I just don’t believe that Dubya will take the time to work out why someone elected to throw their shoes at him. It just won’t occur to him that there may have been a reason why someone did this to him. That maybe they might actually have a valid reason for doing this. That maybe Dubya could have learned something about what he has done over the past eight years, and the dreadful impact that some of his actions have had on others.

I don’t doubt for one second that Bush sees life in black and white – a simple, ongoing battle between two clearly defined areas: right and wrong. The Christian, pseudo-democratic beliefs of Dubya and his ilk are RIGHT. And everyone else is WRONG. This insanely simplistic view of the world is bad enough; what really has consigned the Bush administration into being classed as one of the worst in history is his fundamental lack of curiosity. And his inability to change his mind, or look beyond his own (extremely limited) worldview.

It is this inability to change even his most basic beliefs that has so damaged both America and the world. If he had stopped for just one moment to think about why people protest and argue against his actions, then maybe he would have called a halt to some of the disastrous schemes that have so come to define his presidency. Even now, if he stopped to think about why a journalist threw shoes at his face, he could have a positive impact on the world. But we all know he won’t do that. Instead, his measured response to this most idiosyncratic of protests is the same what I’d imagine his response is to every protest – a smirk and a stupid quip.

Which is why Bush will enter the history books as less of a Jed Bartlett and more a presidential version of Beavis and Butthead. He’ll probably go into retirement believing that he is a great President who fought on the side of good. I’d say the vast majority of the rest of the world has more sympathy with the views of the shoe throwing journo rather than with Bush.