Tiger Woods and America: Two False Premise Brands?

Writing an op ed piece for Al Jazeera English, Mark LeVine compares the tarnished brand of Tiger Woods with President Obama’s acknowledgement that America is also a tarnished brand.

LeVine writes with assurance that mainstream media and Tiger fans will look beyond the sex to scrutinise the engine that has powered brand Tiger. Serial infidelity can be safely condemned and ultimately forgiven.

That prediction remains to be seen. LeVine also writes with great assurance that it will be harder to ignore the relationships with unsavoury corporations (Nike, for example) that have made Tiger fabulously wealthy when he inevitably returns to golf.

Recognizing where he’s coming from and how unrealistic his appraisal of options may be — big corporations are here to stay — along with any attempt of objectivity in his writing, I still believe that The end of American exceptionalism is worth reading.

LeVine hits on many themes and points that resonate as real, whether we want to face the facts or not. You could bring Google’s Eric Schmidt or even Warren Buffett into the conversation and, in a much gentler and more diplomatic manner, they would acknowledge some truth to this argument that America is a tarnished brand, hard presssed to reset the imaging button in tomorrow’s world. 

In Mark VeVine’s world Buffetts and Schmidts must be overthrown, but in my playbook, they’re necessary players in any significant changes around brand America. Call me establishment or realistic. They’re the powers that be and I’m beyond rhetoric at this point.  Anne