Posted by
Steve on Tuesday, December 16, 2008 11:06:24 AM
Over the weekend an Iraqi reporter threw his two shoes at President Bush. This was done as a protest to the Iraqi leaders that follow what President Bush says without question.
The protest raises a lot of questions that do require some answers. The first and most important is: where was the secret service when this reporter threw his first shoe? Where were they when he threw the second shoe a couple of seconds later?
A report I read said that the Secret Service had checked everyone for weapons and because the room was small, put a small presence in the room. Still, when this reporter raised the shoe to throw it, someone had to see it. If they saw the man raise his hand, nobody reacted to the action of someone throwing something at the President of the United States. They still had not reacted when this same man threw a second shoe. Then, the Secret Service showed up and tried to protect the President. They also showed up and wrestled the Iraqi reporter into submission.
I thought that the job of the Secret Service was to keep the President safe at all costs, including the loss of your own life. Not one Secret Service Agent reacted fast enough to get between a man throwing a shoe from 15 feet away and the President. The President had time to duck away from the shoe, so the shoe was not thrown at high velocity. The tape shows that the first agent shows up six seconds after the Iraqi throws the shoe at the President. That is much too slow. They should have identified that there was a threat when the man started moving his arm and started a reaction. I think that they thought there was no possibility of danger and relaxed. This relaxation almost cost the President his life. I know the shoe was not a danger, but it just as easily could have been a bomb. The President could have been injured by the shoe striking him in the eye. That would not have looked good for the Secret Service. As it is, they do not look good, but there is no harm done.
Many have asked the question, what would have happened if this had been Barack Obama? I think that the Secret Service would not have been asleep at the wheel. When the Iraqi raised his hand, someone would have been in front of Obama in an instant and the shoe thrower would have been taken out by another agent or more. The shoe thrower might have been able to deliver one shoe, but not two. But, the shoe would have been delivered at a Secret Service Agent, not the President.
Why do I say these things? I believe that the Secret Service protecting President Bush believe that their job is almost done and are relaxing on the job. They think that they just have to run out the clock and the President will have been protected on their watch. This is much like the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. They had to run out the clock to defeat the New York Jets. Instead of taking care of the ball and doing their job, they decided to run a risky play. The risky play failed and they lost the game. The same thing can happen to the Secret Service if they are not careful in this last month before President Bush leaves office. They almost fumbled the ball. They got lucky this time. They might not be so lucky next time. There are a lot of people in this world that have Bush Derangement Syndrome and wish the President was dead. How many want him to actually die is unknown. How many could do something about it is unknown. That is the job of the Secret Service to make sure that nobody gets a chance to do something about killing the President. This time they dodged the “bullet”. Will they do so next time? Will there be a next time? I hope that President Bush lives a long and happy life like his father. I also do not wish ill for our new President when he takes office, January 20, 2009. I did not vote for him and do not want him to serve, but that is not my choice at this time. He was elected by the people and so for the next four years, Barack Obama is the President.
I just wish President Obama would show us his birth certificate to prove that he really was born in Hawaii. He should not leave that question open. Every other candidate produced their birth certificate in this election season, except Obama. He will still be President, just let us cross off all the questions. It will help morale in the country.