The Patriot Post® · Oprah 2020 — Could She Win?
Oprah Winfrey rejected the idea of ever running for public office. Yet after her Golden Globes speech Sunday, as we noted yesterday, the Oprah 2020 bandwagon is in full swing. “It’s up to the people,” said her longtime “partner,” Stedman Graham. “She would absolutely do it.” We focused yesterday on Hollywood’s hypocrisy and cultural destruction, but there’s more there about Oprah’s theoretical presidential bid.
Could it be? Almost up to the moment he received the Republican nomination, many pundits dismissed Donald Trump’s campaign as a celebrity stunt. Clearly, no one should dismiss out of hand the idea that a celebrity with no governing experience could win.
On that score, The Washington Post featured “analysis” this morning blasting conservatives for hypocrisy because they supported inexperienced Trump but criticize unqualified Oprah. The Post’s take includes tweets from people citing Oprah’s — you guessed it — “gender and race” as the reason conservatives object. What did the Post not mention? That leftists rallied around Hillary Clinton because she was the Most Qualified Candidate in History™, and they will flock to Oprah’s banner should it actually be raised. That’s called team sport politics, and you play the game with the players you’ve got.
Notably, Democrats don’t have very many players after Barack Obama and Clinton decimated their bench. That leaves quite the opening for Oprah to exploit.
As for Clinton, Rich Lowry offers the real reason conservatives should take Oprah seriously: “If Hillary Clinton could deliver a political speech half as effectively as Oprah Winfrey, she might be president today.” Then again, he also argues, she may not wish to “make the plunge” because half the country would hate her and “she’d experience something that she’s never truly had to encounter: negative press.”
She’s already facing criticism for the hypocrisy of her speech Sunday. Not only has she been longtime pals with Harvey Weinstein, but she’s said nothing about the subject of sexual harassment or abuse for decades — at least not like she did Sunday. In fact, one of Bill Clinton’s victims, Juanita Broaddrick, levels this lament at Oprah: “Funny I’ve never heard you mention my name. CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? Guess not. My rapist was/is your friend, Bill Clinton.”
Forget their claims about conservative hypocrisy; Democrats own the trademark. They will forget Oprah’s silence about celebrity sexual assault while simultaneously making it the centerpiece of their 2020 election, and counting on their perennial political calculus that female voters are ignorant dupes.
Recall if you will, that female majorities have elected every Democrat president since 1960, and have been a major force in midterm elections.
Exit quote: “Oprah would always be my first choice” as running mate. —Donald Trump in 1999
Exit link: “Remember, Oprah Winfrey Is Our Premier National Snake Oil Salesman”