yes, call me stupid but I tried removing thick gooey old tree sap from all over the hood of my girlfriend's car with a light brillo pad and water.  duh!!!  It created tons of light swirl-type-scratches where I cleared out the tree sap spots.  It looked retarted.  To make matters worse, I thought if I just make the scratchy spots more homogenous by just using the pad all over the hood it'd look less stupid.  It worked as far as not having spot scratches but now the entire hood has very light swirl marks all over it.  kind of like swirl marks on a glass after you wash it for a few times.  I used an electric buffer with liquid wax to buff the car and it looked A LOT BETTER but swirl marks still noticeable with a sun glare.  

Question:  HOW CAN I REMOVE THE LIGHT SWIRL SCRATCHES ANY FURTHER?
Do I need to use Rubbing compound and polish?  please help me look less stupid on this one. 

thanks.
Mr. Moron car washer.

Yes, I would try rubbing compound followed by polishing compound as this should clean it up.