Does Oprah support your candidacy? Does it matter?
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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Not being a big television watcher (except football, of course), maybe I’m just drastically out of touch with this whole culture of celebrity thing.
But tell me something. Are there really a significant number of American voters who would vote for a Presidential candidate based on the endorsement of someone like Oprah Winfrey?
I guess there are some “famous people” whose opinions I respect and might be influenced by, but mainly due to the fact that they are educated people who have spent significant time studying issues in what I feel is an intellectual, rational and logical fashion. They also would generally have direct experience in the field in which they opine.
But Oprah? She seems like a genuinely nice and giving person. But to reportedly have such sway over the voting habits of literally millions of her fans? What’s up with that? Are we really so intellectually shallow that we take as high gospel the opinions and direction of someone who hosts a feel-good talk show?
Just wondering. Maybe some of you Oprah fans out there can give me a little insight into what makes her so significant a figure in this political season.
I think an honest answer to this question might scare you.
I guess I asked that question knowing full well what the answer is.
And yep, it scares me.
I think that the real question is how many people will give Obama a chance, or a second chance because Oprah asked them to think. I was very impressed about how she put it, she said what she thought and then ask supporters to draw their own conclusion.
I think she shifts a lot of people one notch towards Obama, but it is his job to seal the deal.
I’ll take a crack at that question. Oprah’s empire is built on a good business model, anything but a feel good show (ask those who were taken to task and held accountable on her show); she has reached out to help not only Katrina victims but African kids and when the children at the school turned up abused by an employee she put most CEO’s of American business to shame by the way she waded in and righted the wrong; she has taken any number of issues on, child neglect, abuse, you name it and it’s always the way she handles the ugly – straight up – (and that includes her own mistakes) that differentiates her from anyone else. It’s the integrity that she is trying to bring to the campaign.
I’ve only caught her show a few times over the years and I don’t subscribe to her magazine, but the integrity thing sticks.
You make some very good points. I appreciate your perspective on it.
I have never doubted her magnanimity, sincerity and sense of purpose. She appears to be genuinely honest with her charity and generosity and appears to be committed to a number of very worthwhile endeavors.
And as for her efforts to inject some integrity into this campaign season, well, that is a tall order but apparently she feels driven to participate and hopefully her efforts will bear some fruit. Lord knows there has been a severe shortage of integrity in the political process for a long, long time.
She hasn’t called me lately.
Funny story, this, but I’m going to also disagree that Oprah is just a ‘feel good’ celebrity. Back in April 2003, Michael Moore came to Shoreline Community College in WA, and I went to see it (got the whole deal on tape, too!) Previous to this event, Moore had been on Oprah a couple of times, for Bowling, and most recently for Fahrenheit 9/11 which had not yet been released in theaters. Oprah took a step that other ‘talk’ shows were not willing to take at that point, and she really took to heart the issues that Moore had been documenting and gve him a very wide forum within which to express his ideas. At the Shoreline event, I had printed a banner that said Winfrey/Moore 2004, which Moore chuckled at, and said he liked the Winfrey part, but the Moore wasn’t going to happen. Anyway, when he wrote his next book, “Dude..” if you have the hardback edition it’s on p.206 , he talked about the Democrats running Oprah as a candidate, and although he didn’t credit me in the book, he did sign my book and wrote “Thanks for the idea.”
My 2 cents. I like Oprah. In general she’s got some worthwhile things to say, and I daresay she’d do a better job than Hillary or Obama.
Peace,
Jason Call
http://www.Call4Democracy.org
Candidate, US Congress, New Mexico CD 1
is this really what it’s come down to when we’re selecting people to lead the country…what some celebrity espouses?
if so, my already misanthropic opinion of the electorate is in need of being ratcheted up a notch.
spare me the rationalizations and feel good tripe…please!
lTMF’sA
Hold on a sec…
Oprah has as much right to say what she wants in support of a candidate as any of us. Last time I looked, she was an American citizen, who despite her vast wealth – wealth that for the most part seems ‘earned’, it certainly wasn’t inherited – has done a fair amount of good in the world, I would say. Whatever she says about Obama doesn’t really make a difference to me, I’m a Kucinich supporter, and I’ve always said that anyone who votes to fund this war is pro-war. Since Obama voted to fund it, he’s pro-war, regardless of his rhetoric on how long he has been against (they’re ALL pro war but for a few.)
But she’s getting people involved in Democracy and politics who might not ordinarily be. Perhaps she’s helping them feel like they have power as citizens, I don’t know. Perhaps she’s appealing to a bunch of housewives with rich Republican husbands who otherwise would go vote like hubby says – and she’s convincing them to vote Democratic.
I don’t see how Oprah’s voice is hurting the democratic process.
Jason, Your points are well taken. You are correct in that Oprah’s efforts might well motivate previously uninvolved citizens to feel empowerment and fuel a desire to get involved in the process. It appears her involvement might also be a net plus for Democrats overall, based on her appeal to mainstream middle American housewives.
only if she’s giving away a free car