Farewell kiss

Did any president in US history ever draw a shoe-attack? George W Bush, 43rd in line, earned himself the singular distinction when Iraqi journalist, Muntazer al-Zaidi, hurled his shoes one after another at him during a press conference in Baghdad.
Bush ducked and shoes sailed past his smirking face. Second shoe flung at him hit the star-spangled US flag. Bemused Bush muttered: "I don't know what the guy's cause is...I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it." In sheepish levity he sniggered: "If you want the facts, it was 10-size shoe that he threw." So much is for Bush's jokiness and his parting visit to the vanquished state.
Journalist al-Zaidi not only hurled shoes at Bush but also shouted invectives: "It's the farewell kiss, you dog." While hurling the second shoe, he shouted: "This one is for Iraqi widows and orphans." Bush has made history and so has al-Zaidi. But poor journalist who represented cumulative angst of his nation might end up in Guantanamo rest and recreation facility for the intransigent and the unenlightened. He already has a few limbs broken.
Hurling shoes and calling someone dog is not considered a serious indignity in the Western culture but in Muslim world it can be a matter of life and death. In the subcontinent politics, however, beating political opponents with shoes is not new but it surely raises eyebrows.
For instance, our own worthies like Dr Sher Afgan, Senator Tariq Azeem, Sindh MPA Arbab Rahim, and MNA Farooq Sattar have had the taste of it in the past. But everyone pales before Bush; for he is the first president and master surveyor of the planet -earth, to face such ignominy. One wonders how his dad, the senior Mr Bush, would feel about the historic event, the shoe legacy his accomplished progeny would leave behind.