To help "repair" Tiger Woods' image and "facilitate his wildly anticipated comeback." Srsly.
Two sources in the golf community have told The Post that Ari Fleischer, the former presidential advisor to George W. Bush and the man who was brought in to help repair the steroid-shattered image of Mark McGwire, has been huddling with Woods, plotting a strategy for his return to golf — at the Arnold Palmer Invitational starting March 25 at Bay Hill in Orlando, Fla. “They were in his living room this week going over a strategy for how to handle Bay Hill in two weeks,” one source told The Post.
Knowing he eventually has to stand before everyone publicly and take questions—something he didn’t do in that bizarre orchestrated 131⁄2-minute ramble on Feb. 19—is why Woods sought out the advice of Fleischer, who in 2008 formed Ari Fleischer Sports Communications. The firm, which focuses on crisis response and control, is a joint venture with IMG Sports & Entertainment. Woods is represented by IMG. Fleischer, who served as presidential press secretary from January 2001 to July 2003 before leaving for a career as a consultant, worked with McGwire after the disgraced slugger had gone into hiding following his embarrassing refusal to answer questions about his steroid use before a congressional committee in 2005.
The New York Post neglects to mention Ari Fleischer's other credentials: As the White House spokesman in the lead-up to the Iraq War, the accuracy of many of Fleischer's claims has been disputed, to put it mildly. And Fleischer was an instrumental figure in the Valerie Plame case and later testified that he had revealed the CIA agent's identity to reporters.
Heckuva job, Tiger.
