Oprah for president?

The ‘‘Oprah for President’’ movement has hardly started and the pundits are already trying to stop it. In fact, Oprah Winfrey might make a good president, and her possible candidacy should be taken seriously.

Oprah’s brilliant speech at the Golden Globes awards launched a sudden rush of hope among liberal American voters. But many experienced commentators, including the Los Angeles Times, say she doesn’t have the experience needed for the job.

In fact, not all good presidents have had a lot of experience in governing. Dwight Eisenhower, for instance, had not served in public office at all. He was, of course, a great military commander and the man in charge of the D Day landings.

On the other hand, some of the most experienced presidents were among the worst. The most notorious case is the political veteran James Buchanan, the president before the outbreak of the Civil War who failed to stop the mounting crisis over slavery.

The hardened politician did not have the moral courage to tackle the problem that plunged his country into the fire.

The point is that political experience is one thing, and courage and political ability are another. What made Abraham Lincoln great was his character, not his previous years in office - of which he had few.

Donald Trump does not have the character needed of an American president. He is a charlatan whose demagoguery, it must be remembered, brought victory only because of the warped American electoral system.

Oprah Winfrey has many of the qualities that Trump lacks. She is thoughtful and well read: the intellectual German novelist Bernhard Schlink appeared on her books programme and said later ‘‘she is very smart’’.

She can reach across the terrible divide in American politics and take conservative voters and politicians with her.

In a sense she is the mother of the nation, a constant presence in American living rooms for decades. She is able to transcend the racism that helped elect Trump and which continues to do so much damage to the United States.

Winfrey is a self-made billionaire and she embodies the deep American aspiration that a citizen with talent can rise from log cabin to White House. As the leader of a business empire she has had to face big problems and make hard decisions.

As president, she would take advice from wise and experienced people in the civil service and in the wider American government system. In this, she is utterly unlike Trump.

Oprah Winfrey might make a good or even a great president.