Who cares what Walt Whitman would have thought? The guy is dead. Moreover, if Whitman could have endorsed any product, I would dare say Levis is about as good as it gets. A quality American product made for over a hundred years? Yeah, I'm sure Whitman would weep, assuming corpses could weep. And look at the whiner brigade coming in. Surely the bemoaning battalions would be less distraught if Whitman was drafted to sell Macbooks or Priuses? Now those are products an enlightened Slate reader can feel at ease with--or at least convince himself that Whitman would have approved!

Walt would probably just be thankful that he wasn't endorsing ED medication.

I just thought it was ironic since they (Levi's) are no longer made in this country.

That is the ONLY reasonable and pertinent comment I've read on this topic. Levis are a damn good American product. Too bad the company isn't American anymore.