A few comments about Oprah and Obama.
So yes, expect loud, rousing rallies in all three early voting states when Oprah Winfrey comes to town with her friend Barack Obama in early December, with gobs of media attention, raucous crowds, emotion and great pictures. But don’t expect those events to do anything productive to allow Obama to get over the biggest hurdle standing between him and the White House. American voters are not looking for a celebrity or talk show sidekick to lead them. Obama is an intelligent and thoughtful potential President, but Winfrey’s imprimatur is unlikely to convey those traits to many undecided voters.
In that respect, Winfrey’s events might even be — dare it be said — counterproductive.[1]
…………………………………..
This Oprah-palooza is a big test for her famous power to bring in women, particularly white women. White women are, of course, the basis of her great success.
She is also, obviously, a black woman and she is also trying to pry black votes from Hillary Clinton. So she is telling her female audience don’t buy that solidarity thing and vote for a woman — Hillary — but telling black people do buy the solidarity thing and vote for the black man.
It’s tricky, but I predict she’ll get away with it [2]
……………………………………………………………
“I’m not lying, I came here to see Oprah. I know nothing about him,” said Sandy Beasley, 43, of Amherst. “Everybody wants to see Oprah.” [3]
And check out this video. CNN has a report of a poll that Oprah could have a negative effect.
So my question: has Oprah helped or hurt Obama? Or, has she had no effect?
Inquiring minds want to know 😉
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Sorry, that last part was Ric’s, not mine. I don’t think Oprah will be a wash at all. She’ll attract a lot of people who have otherwise become disengaged from politics as usual. The very fact that there are so many comments on this thread is evidence of her enormous popularity and power to change the equation.
“Not that men are disqualified, but even if the stories were randomly assigned, there should have been plenty of women to address this question.”
A comment by a woman:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/12/obama_the_audacity_of_hype.html
Richardson is a mestizo: his father is American, his mother Mexican. That´s one of the reasons that why I think he is the most impressive candidate possible in a General Election: he can put the White and the Hispanic vote on the same bandwagon.
I hadn’t seen that article – good find, Andre.
Well, by that logic, Obama should have things sewn up.
“Richardson is a mestizo….”
Are we going to start calling Obama a “mulatto,” too?
God, I wish we could get over this BS. Are we back to the 200-year old argument of “how much Black blood makes a person Black?” Is it 1/2, 1/4, 1/8? They had names for all of those, too.
AEM – Andre is not in the US. (I think he’s in Brazil.) So please consider that others’ customs might be different from ours.
Fair enough. Unfortunately, AMERICANS are arguing over “how much Black blood makes a person Black?” Whites think Obama is Black because his father was Black. Some Blacks think he’s not “Black enough” because his mother was White and his father abandoned him.
If Obama becomes President, they’ll probably put an asterisk by his name in the record books because of his mother, and some guy 40 years from now will claim to be the first “real” African American President.
Actually, AEM, I’ve not heard anyone talk about Obama in those terms, ie, that he’s half black. I have heard the arguments that he has not had the experience of being black, which is a totally different argument and one that is used regardless of the amount of black blood (think Condi Rice).
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/01/22/obama/
You read the first sentence. I read the rest, which has been the focus of nearly every article on Obama’s “blackness.”
The only way to ever make anything Debra Dickerson writes interesting, informative, or useful is to extract a single sentence from it, and then imagine someone else wrote it.
I read it all, and others that were similar.
While agree with Oprah Winfrey that she has the right to support either candidate in the 2008 Presidential Election, I also think she is in a unique position, as Oprah wouldn’t be a household name without the relentless support of women. It wasn’t men who responded so favorabley to her initially and lest one not forget their roots of success. Yet, Oprah is also a Black women in today’s society and understanding the dynamics and being a minority in essentially two categories, it’s very reasonable to understand why Oprah would want to support a Black candidate. We can say all we want that her picking a Black candidate doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that he’s Black, but the fact that Obama consistently receives 85% of the Black vote speaks volumes. This is particularly true when considering that the White candidate that Obama is facing has a long history of supporting the Black community and as such, has earned support from one of the most fundamental characters of the Civil Rights Movement, John Lewis. Oprah has the right to choose the candidate that she believes will serve the country best and if she believes that it’s Obama, then sobeit. As a woman, I don’t hold any resentment whatsoever toward her for supporting the male candidate. I understand completely.
I was watching a news clip the other day and heard her speaking to a rally in California. In a very aggressive and condescending tone she stated something to the effect of, “Some people are upset with me because they think I should have supported a woman for president. I tell them, I’ll do whatever I want.” While on the surface, the comment doesn’t seem all that bad. It makes logical sense that she would, of course, do what she believed was best in terms of supporting a candidate for president. Yet, this tone and attitude certainly does not reflect that “Oprah” that women throughout the country have helped to make extremely popular over the years. Instead of Oprah, being that champion of women’s rights that so many women have made her out to be, expressing some genuine understanding for why women would be disappointed that she chose to support the male candidate, when in front of a group Obama supporters, she intentionally cites these women and belittles them for how they feel. She makes a point of how the women feel and then goes on to minimize their feelings of essentially being betryaed. Her comment is meant to embarrass the women are disappointed and essentially shame them into believing that their feelings are unjustified. Now, as a woman, I recognize what she did and I’m confident that every female does. Isn’t this kind of behavior exactly what women look to Oprah to fight against? It’s a very female quality to have feelings. As women, I would expect a stereotypical male to respond the way that Oprah did. But, because Oprah has always seemed to defend a woman’s right to feel validated in her feelings, I would expect Oprah’s response to these women to be much more in tune with what actually works to motivate women versus delivering comments that will only further alienate them.
These are her constituents that she is disregarding in her efforts to assert her right to choose a presidential candidate. Does she really have to bury them in order to support the candidate? Is that her intention? If not, I think that all Oprah needed to say was something like, “I know that there are women who feel that by choosing the male candidate in this race, they are not only letting Hillary down, but they are letting all women down. I want you to know that as a women, I considered that, too, but upon doing so, I made the deicision to support Obama because I believe that he will create opportunities for women and I believe that he has the best chance to also make society better as a whole. First and foremost, I want women to know that in my decision to support Obama, I am in no way asserting that we don’t have a long way to go in terms of improving women’s rights as well.” Had Oprah said that, she would have essentially told the disappointed women that she understood things from their perspective, but that in the end, she believed that the best way to address the issues that they all shared was to support Obama. Even if the women didn’t agree, they wouldn’t feel alienated and belittled by her. They just might be disappointed, but in the long term, they would move on with no hard feelings. For Oprah, that would translate into no negative affect on her status and frankly, on her financial well being. But, when push came to shove, Oprah showed that maybe she’s not the champion of women’s rights that we have idolized her to be. She has a chance to make up for this and regain the support of many women who feel slighted by her. These are women who have been extremely loyal to her over the years and it’s understandable that when you feel that strongly about someone, you expect something in return. It’s too bad that Oprah doesn’t seem to get that at this point because considering how loyal these women have been to her, it wouldn’t be that hard for her to make it right and yet, she now seems to have the arrogance that only someone with money and power seems to garner. Maybe she’s not so special after all.
If you want to see funny animated skits with Oprah And Obama Go to http://youtube.com/watch?v=W5Kboa7kSjU