The real analysis of this weekend’s shoe throwing incident…

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past few days, you no doubt saw the “shoe thrown half way round the world” over the weekend.  Amid the esoteric political analysis that immediately followed the incident (i.e. this is symbolic of the failed Bush administration’s policy in the middle east, blah, blah, blah), I think the media is missing the real analysis of what happened.  This was an exhibition of athletic prowess rarely seen in your typical press conference. 

We all know President Bush is an avid runner and while running doesn’t necessarily contribute to enhanced reaction time (or maybe it does, I don’t really know), there’s no question that George W Bush may have one of the quickest reaction times of any President in recent history. 

Before Malaki even knows what is going on, Bush has avoided two flying shoes zooming directly at him with blinding speed.  Here’s how it went down…

First shoe thrown…

You can see that the shoe barely misses Bush as he busts a move to avoid it… 

And then Bush pops back up and gives us a Texas smile like nothing just happened… I won’t go into an analysis of the throw itself, but it was a strike across the plate.  Both men now steady themselves for the 2^nd shoe salvo…

Second shoe thrown.  This 2^nd shoe was thrown, unlike the first, a bit like a QB throwing off their back foot while being sacked.   Not a lot of zip on it, ripe to be picked off.  And indeed, as you can see below, had Malaki not interfered, Bush would certainly have gotten the interception.  I think he would have caught the 2^nd shoe.  It’s really too bad we didn’t get a chance to see that happen. 

Now the attention shifts from the dignitaries to the crowd around the thrower.  Fantastic sorta semi-horse collar from behind by an audience member, totally sacking the thrower.  He didn’t see that coming. 

Not to be a Monday morning QB, but two shoes have been thrown, and where’s the secret service guy?  Ah, there he is (see below)…  thanks, man, for helping out.  He must have been checking his fantasy football scores on his blackberry when the first shoe was thrown. 

And when he finally does get up there, Bush pulls a Desmond Howard and gives him the Heisman.  Nice, Mr. President, nice.

Hope you enjoyed my analysis.  I welcome your comments.

Stay tuned…

Tagged as: Iraq, Malaki, President Bush, shoe throwing