What Tiger and Amanda Knox Say about Us (Hillary and Brokaw Don't Know)

President Obama has announced a surge in Afghanistan, unemployment has hit a record high, Pakistani terrorists are a rising threat, and health care reform seems increasingly remote. But what are Americans consumed with? Tiger Woods and Amanda Knox.

NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw dissed Emily when she asked him to comment on Woods' transgressions, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton waved off George Stephanopoulos when he asked if she had an opinion of the Knox case. "I'm not talking about that," Brokaw said to Emily. "George, I honestly haven't had time to even examine that...I can't offer any opinion," Clinton responded to Stephanopoulos. Indeed, it's understandable (and maybe even admirable) that both Brokaw and Clinton seek to rise above the tabloid fray. But their dismissals also reveal a stunning lack of connection with the populace.

Criticism of celebrity hype and pack journalism is legitimate. But there is something about Tiger Woods and Amanda Knox that strike at the very heart of who we are, and what we value, as Americans: heroism and justice. In one fell swoop we've seen the giant clay feet of a hero and a heartbreaking potential travesty of justice. With that in mind, it's not surprising that the Woods and Knox stories are two of Time Magazine's top ten most read this week. We've seen a homegrown icon, a larger-than-life idol, deconstruct before our eyes. And we've watched a young American girl sentenced to 26 years in a foreign prison in a tragic potential miscarriage of justice.

While Woods' seamy drama continues to play out like a train derailment we can't avoid, the Knox case leaves us paralyzed with our powerlessness. I agree with Melinda that "Clinton would seem to be the perfect person to make sure that a young American woman isn't railroaded on account of her nationality and...made-up gossip about her sexuality." For those of us who have sent our "juniors" abroad to learn a language, for those of us who remember the terror in the film Midnight Express, for those of us who can only imagine our child alone and imprisoned in an unfriendly country, I too hope that Clinton will reconsider.