Full disclosure: I enjoyed watching, and replaying, the shoe incident in Iraq as much as anyone. Muntazer al-Zaidi might be suffering a few broken bones, but he's probably lucky that the Iraqi security people got to him before a Secret Service bullet. And thanks to Emine Saner in yesterday's Guardian, we have a cultural guide to insult symbolism throughout the world.
But here's the thing: if getting a pair of shoes thrown at him is the worst that George W. Bush experiences, then he's getting off very lightly. If anything, al-Zaidi's gesture of frustration is symbolic of the feelings of millions, not just in the Arab world, who will see Bush take leave of Washington on January 20 and say to themselves: That's all? He just walks away?
Bush and his VP Cheney deserve more than ineffective (but entertaining) gestures. They deserve a hearing - in court. Blogger/lawyers Scott Horton of Harper's and Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com have done yeoman work over the years documenting the Bush Administration's transgressions of US law and the Constitution, especially in the matter of torture. They focus on the truly important, while the rest of us get distracted by shoes, Blagojevich, and Madoff.
The latter are, despite their apparently brazen corruption, ultimately transitory characters. Bush and Cheney, however, have bequeathed America a stain that will be long lasting. So they deserve - not just shoes - but the book.