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The American media has issued its collective verdict on Tiger Woods’ apology speech and it’s not pretty.
While a significant minority of commentators were impressed with Woods, including former Bill Clinton press secretary George Stephanopoulos, the majority were underwhelmed both by what he had to say, and how he said it.
But it will be several days before we really know what the general public thought of it all.
Quite often, middle America sees things differently. And it’s not just the reaction of the American public that counts. Woods is a global figure who has derived a large part of his income from multi-national corporations.
The reaction of his fans in New Delhi is almost as important as those in New York.
Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post offered a scathing critique of the Woods speech.
“Sorry, but I didn’t buy it,” Jenkins wrote. “The public Tiger Woods has always been artificial, but never has he seemed more waxen than in his so-called public apology.
“Here’s the problem: Woods and his handlers staged a fake news conference to apologise for being fake. To these ears, it was stilted and rehearsed to the point of insincerity.”
Mark Spencer in the Florida Times-Union was perhaps even more critical, pointing out that Woods released a statement on his website on November 29 that claimed “the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible”.
Wrote Spencer: How do you have the audacity to lash out like this? Because you are Tiger Woods. Skipping ahead to today, you selfishly ask of others to provide you a platform to lecture us on what you say is ‘your private business’. Sorry, Tiger, but it is my business…you made it that way.”
Bill Simmons of ESPN.Com wrote: “I thought it was a borderline train wreck. It amazes me that Tiger learned little to nothing from the past two months.
“The control freak whose life slipped out of control dipped right back into control-freak mode, reading a prepared speech in front of a hand-selected audience of people, taking no questions, talking in cliches and only occasionally seeming human.”
Simmons was particularly critical of the way Woods admitted his infidelity, claiming he sounded like a “horny robot”.
Woods, Simmons wrote, would have been better off admitting he got married too young and hadn’t been ready to settle down.
But not everyone thought Woods hurt his cause, including Stephanopoulos, who described it as one of the most remarkable public apologies ever by a public figure.
“He (Tiger) left nothing on the table,” Stephanopoulos said. “This is a man who has thought a lot about what he did.”
But whatever your opinion, let’s remember that the Woods speech was not a funeral, just a rich, famous sportsman trying to resurrect his public and corporate image after getting caught with his pants down.
Comedian Bill Maher joked in his TV show on Friday night: “Tiger Woods apologised to the three women in America he never got around to sleeping with. He said he put himself through his public grovelling to get his life back to something he desperately needs. He needs the forgiveness of one very special special being – Nike.”