The Worst Cadillac Commercial - n'est ce pas?

As we gathered around our television sets and tablets to witness and applaud great achievements by athletes from around the globe, there was an alarmingly discordant note that repeatedly intruded.

At a moment when our country is almost universally viewed in a troubling light, the Cadillac commercial which aired far too often merely magnified the portrait of the ugly American.

The scene opens into a world of conspicuous consumption. We are led on a journey laced with images and words dripping with contempt and sarcasm for others.  We, so we are informed, are worthy of unfettered praise, while "they" deserve merely scorn.

While we struggle to ready our youth for the challenges of tomorrow and appear ill prepared educationally in contrast to many other nations,  we hear boasts of our capabilities, and ours alone, for wondrous achievement.

It may be considered an act of marketing genius, targeted to a very specific audience who fully embrace this jingoism. And what better moment than the Olympic stage with all of its attendant national fervor?

But the message it sends is antithetical to the very heart and soul of these games. The Olympics is, above all else, a moment of community not isolation, of inclusion not exclusion, of understanding not ugly stereotypes.

For its total lack of care or consideration of anything other than trying to improve its bottom line, I would award the gold medal for most reprehensible commercial during the 2014 Olympics to Cadillac. N'est ce pas?