In their weighty meditations on the year that was, many pundits have latched onto a coincidence they endow with much significance: Two of the nation's most respected men of color, both talented superstars who were able to inspire the adulation of millions, have turned out to be not quite who they seemed, and have in fact profoundly disenchanted their erstwhile worshippers and sullied their own "brands" forevermore.

Of course, the most striking thing about the travails of Tiger Woods and President Barack Obama is that they share literally nothing in common — other than that the protagonist in each case is a media-savvy, congenial biracial man.

Nonetheless, here is conservative writer Lisa Schiffren on AmericanThinker.com: "If I were watching the public's disgust with the newly revealed Tiger Woods from an office in the West Wing, I'd be concerned. Because Barack Obama is about as completely manufactured a political character as this nation has seen. His meteoric rise, without the inconvenience of a public record or accomplishments, and the public's willing suspension of critical evaluation of his resume allowed his handlers and the media to project whatever they wanted to on his unfurrowed brow."

This specious kind of zeitgeist journalism sadly is not limited to the president's conservative detractors.

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