"The farewell kiss"

So an Iraqi journalist hurled a really vicious insult, and his shoes, at President Bush over the weekend at a press conference. Muntader al-Zaidi, a television journalist for Al-Baghdadia, apparently used his turn to ask a question instead as a chance to hurl his shoes at Bush's head and yell, "This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!" He was immediately tackled by police officers, beaten badly, and taken into custody, where he remains. You can watch the whole throw-down here on YouTube, from several different vantage points.

One of the directors of the gallery, who's sitting at the desk next to me, is watching the video on repeat and laughing hysterically to himself. And I can definitely agree that the physical situation is pretty funny; as one of the comments at the YouTube site declares: "Looks like President Bush was good at dodgeball." (It's true. Dubya is apparently sporting some mad ninja skills! Who knew?) And the pissed look on his face right afterward is serious YouTube gold.

But it's much more than that, too. In the Arab world, as the New York Times points out, the act of touching someone with a shoe is a grave insult because it symbolizes that person being lower than the dirt that touched your shoe. Calling someone a dog is similarly heinous, because Arabs consider dogs particularly dirty and unworthy animals. For his audacity, Al-Zaidi remains in custody and will probably face up to seven years in prison for aggression against a visiting head of state. He has become an overnight hero in Iraq and abroad. He's been awarded for his bravery by a Libyan group. People of all types, from all over Iraq, have taken to the streets in support of his courage, throwing their own shoes at American convoys and burning American flags.

One more reminder that the Iraqis hate us. And they are being joined by an ever-larger inernational community of people who love to watch President Bush being cut down in public as our figurehead. And what's more, most of us here in America love watching him dodge shoes, or trying to talk his way out of interview questions, stumbling over every syllable, or pretending to have some sort of relevence in the government at this point. He's hilarious. Watching him fail is funny. Especially now, when we have something better, someONE better, to look forward to.

But I'm feeling very conflicted about it. It's strange. I've hated this guy since day numero uno. He's in so deep with oil companies he's practically oozing slime, he stole an election (or two), he can't speak to save his life or he would have become a televangelist, and he's been at the head of one of the most blatanly corrupt and shamelessly money-grubbing, war-mongering administrations in history. I fully expect that the crimes of him and his cronies will come to light and go down in history as far dirtier than Nixon and his goons could have ever hoped to be. I get enraged when I think of the way Bush has abused his power and that of our country to protect and industry that doesn't deserve protection. I... well I downright hate the guy. He's a dick.

But there's still a measure of discomfort bubbling in my stomach as I watch him dodge those shoes on YouTube. Even as I see the gleam of pissed-off entitlement creep into his eyes, I think, "Hey, that's MY guy! Leave him alone!" I think what it boils down to is that I'm already embarassed by him on a much larger scale - he's made a mockery of what the idea of America is supposed to stand for. Watching him grovel for public sympathy in the news recently, trying to seem like a nice guy for the cameras, admitting in an interview that he was underprepared for the war, it gives me the squirmies. As if suddenly we're supposed to forget all the bullshit he's put the world through for the past eight years and feel bad for the guy. It sickens me. He's the President of the United States of America. Even if I enjoy a good chuckle over his grammar faux pas doesn't mean I want to see the leader of the free world - MY free world, for better or worse - being not only ridiculed but insulted in such a way that he must literally cower.

I cannot really reconcile myself with the idea that the President, still in power even if only in name, must bear this ridicule. It bodes ill for our country in a much more upsetting way, I think, than the oft-repeated headlines about American flag burnings and anti-American demonstrations across the world. On the one hand, I appreciate more pointed attacks being aimed at Bush himself, as he represents a type of American that is on its way out of power - general anti-American protests label all of us as that same type. But on the other hand, he is still arguably the most powerful man on earth, and he is MY most poewrful man on earth, even though I never would have voted for him.

I don't feel bad for the guy. But I do think he deserves more dignity than he has been getting or even demanding lately, and I hate to think of what this means for the Presidency in general. It bothers me in much the same way that watching the video footage of a sad and grey-bearded Saddam Hussein being poked and prodded by a doctor after his capture bothered me. He might have been a dick, but he was still a human being - a powerful human being who used to command the respect of the world - and worthy of decency. In much the same spirit, then, I say: "Let Bush go out with dignity." If he wants to recant later in life, write a book about how he wasn't ready for war, make public appearances where he invites shoes to be thrown, whatever - let him. But for now, he is still the President. He may be our worst President. But he is President, nonetheless. Let him pass into history on his own terms, and let us judge him on those terms later, but for goodness' sake, let him have what he's left for himself of his own dignity.