Buzz over Oprah for president

OPRAH Winfrey’s impassioned call for “a brighter morning even in our darkest nights” at the Golden Globes has sparked a buzz about the media superstar and the 2020 presidential race.

For Democrats and for a public that largely disapproves of President Donald Trump’s job performance, the notion of a popular media figure as a presidential candidate is not as strange as it once seemed, given the reality TV star now in the White House.

Winfrey’s speech as she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award on Monday touched on her humble upbringing and childhood wonder in civil rights heroes.

But it was her exhortation of the legions of women who have called out sexual harassers — and her dream of a day “when nobody has to say ‘ me too’ again” — that got some political operatives, in early voting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, thinking Winfrey might be just what the Democrats need.

“I think we need more role models like her that are speaking to young women and trying to restore some hope. The election of Donald Trump was a devastating setback for little girls,” Liz Purdy, who led Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 2008 New Hampshire presidential primary campaign, said.

Mr Trump’s job approval rating sat at just 32 per cent in December. And though polls show his approval up slightly since, Mr Trump is the least popular first-year president on record. He has also been accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct.

Winfrey, in September and October, publicly dismissed the notion of seeking the nation’s highest office, though she noted that Mr Trump’s victory made her rethink the requirements of the job.

A representative for Winfrey did not reply to a request for comment but Winfrey’s longtime partner, Stedman Graham, told the Los Angeles Times that “it’s up to the people” whether she will be president, adding, “She would absolutely do it.”

AP