A Hero of Our Time: Muntadar al-Zaidi

A Hero of Our Time: Muntadar al-ZaidiBy DAVE LINDORFFWhen Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi heaved his two shoes at thehead of President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad,he did something that the White House press corps should have doneyears ago.Al-Zaidi listened to Bush blather that the half-decade of war he hadinitiated with the illegal invasion of Iraq had been "necessary for USsecurity, Iraqi stability (sic) and world peace" and something justsnapped. The television correspondent, who had been kidnapped and heldfor a while last year by Shiite militants, pulled off a shoe and threwit at Bush—a serious insult in Iraqi culture—and shouted "This is afarewell kiss, you dog!" When the first shoe missed its target, hegrabbed a second shoe and heaved it too, causing the president to ducka second time as al-Zaidi shouted, "This is from the widows, theorphans, and those who were killed in Iraq!"I'll admit, listening to Bush lie his way through eight years of pressconferences, while pre-selected reporters played along and pretendedto get his attention so they could ask questions which had beensubmitted and vetted in advance, I have felt like throwing my shoes atthe television set.Al-Zaidi, who paid for his courageous act of protest by being brutallybeaten by security guards, is a hero of the profession. He stoppedtaking the president's BS and called him what he is: a murderer and acriminal, with the blood of perhaps upwards of a million Iraqis on hishands. Al-Zaidi used what was supposed to be a staged photo-op for thepresident as an opportunity to speak up for those whose lives havebeen ruined by this president—the ones our suck-up journalistsroutinely ignore.I'm not suggesting that journalists should routinely leave
presidential press conferences in their stocking feet. We havedifferent ways of expressing our sentiments to people we feel haveinsulted our intelligence than throwing shoes at them, but it would benice to see a journalist or two flip the president the bird when helies so blatantly to them. Or they could all get up and just walk out,leaving him standing alone at the presidential lectern.It's time for the press corps to stop treating presidents likeroyalty. If he accomplished anything at all in eight years in office,President Bush has demonstrated that, to the contrary, the presidentis a very ordinary—and in his case a rather less than ordinary—man.The office of president deserves no more respect than that of themayor of Detroit, or of Wasilla.My suggestion is that the press corps use the remaining five weeks ofthe Bush administration to develop a new relationship with thepresidency—one in which they drop all the phony propriety andtradition and start acting like boisterous newshounds of old, barkingquestions, laughing cruelly at inane answers, demanding follow-upswhen they are given the run-around, and, where necessary, walking out,or perhaps tossing the occasional shoe.The journalism profession was a full-blown disaster and an utterdisgrace during the Bush administration, and with all the crisesfacing the country and the world, in part because of that failure ontheir part, we cannot afford to have them continue that failure intothe Obama administration.With the Bush administration reduced to a running joke at this point,it gives the journalism profession a chance to redeem itself by usingthese few remaining weeks to establish a new tradition forpresidential press conferences and photo-ops—one that can continue oninto the new presidency.Meanwhile, I'm suggesting that my alma mater, the Columbia UniversityGraduate School of Journalism, hire al=Zaidi to teach a class in press
conference journalism techniques. They should make it a multi-yearappointment, because if he left after just one year, his would bedifficult shoes to fill.NOTE: Speaking of shoes and the White House, Skip Mendler ofHonesdale, PA has a great idea. He suggests that everyone who isdisgusted with the outgoing Bush/Cheney administration send a shoe tothe White House. Just imagine a pile up of a million smelly oldrunning shoes in the White House mailroom! I think he's got something.Spread the word!DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia- based journalist and columnist. Hislatest book is "The Case for Impeachment" (St. Martin's Press, 2006and now in paperback). His work is available atwww.thiscantbehappe ning.net