WHY OPRAH SHOULD NOT GO UP AGAINST TRUMP… YET
ACTOR Tom Hanks was in full gush mode during an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr yesterday. “I believe Oprah [Winfrey] wakes up in the morning and both personally and professionally wonders what she can do to make the world a better place,” he explained. Does he want her as president? Darn right he does.
He’s not the only one, of course. Following Winfrey’s impressive and already mythologised speech at last week’s Golden Globes – “a new day is on the horizon” – there have been increasingly frenzied calls for the TV star, publisher and super-rich businesswoman to confirm she will stand for the presidency.
At first glance this looks to be a great idea. How do you solve a problem like The Donald? Send in an Oprah.
The more bizarre, embarrassing and profoundly damaging the
Trump show becomes, the more tempting it gets for desperate Democrats to look for a quick fix. And in being an intelligent, articulate, compassionate woman of colour, Winfrey appears Mr Trump’s antithesis in every way.
At face value the 63-year-old has all the right credentials. With a built-in audience of millions from across the racial, class and north/ south divide, Winfrey not only has the ultimate recognition factor. A trusted brand that has been in US living rooms for 40 years, she has capitalised on her success by building and consolidating a business empire thought to be worth $3 billion. Smart is an understatement.
Americans love a rags-to-riches story, particularly when it comes to their presidents (Abraham Lincoln grew up on humble frontier homesteads in Kentucky and Indiana, Harry Truman still worked menial jobs while building his political career), and Winfrey’s would surely be the best yet.
Raised on a farm in the dirt-poor state of Mississippi in the racist
Jim Crow era, Winfrey overcame poverty and sexual abuse as a child to become the most famous TV host in the world. It’s impossible to understate the drive, determination and intelligence it must have taken to overcome the racism, sexism and misogyny she doubtless suffered over the decades. She would have had to be 10 times better than her peers; crucially, however, she also had 10 times the charisma. Her story is perhaps the ultimate example of the American dream.
Winfrey has also shown genuine leadership on issues such as race and gender, highlighting an ability to relate to and deal with ordinary folk and billionaires alike.
But in one crucial area Winfrey and Trump are undeniably similar, and that’s what worries me most about her prospective candidacy: star power.
I reckon another celebrity Commander in Chief would set in stone for the foreseeable future the dangerous principle that only the famous can become president. Wealth is already a prerequisite, of course, and there are some who would say fame is perhaps a more benign entity. I’m not so sure. After all, which pointless celebrity would be next? Kanye West or Kim Kardashian, perhaps? What about Martin Sheen? He was a great president in The West Wing, after all. Ivanka Trump? She has plans already for a Trump dynasty.
Or how about wrestler and action movie star Dwayne Johnson, who has said he is “seriously considering” running? You can just about imagine the press briefings: “President The Rock spoke to the Iranian president by telephone this morning…”
Look, I can see why Democrats who would do anything to get rid of Mr Trump might be tempted to jump on the Oprah bandwagon at this nightmarish juncture, where things get stranger and grimmer by the day.
Scarily, we don’t yet know what the 2016 election means in the longer term for America. or the rest of us. Was it an aberration, never to be repeated, or merely the beginning of a much longer and darker period in US history? Whatever happens, I can’t imagine that putting another celebrity up against Mr Trump is the answer to America’s increasingly violent culture war.
It is admittedly dispiriting the Democrats have yet to come up with an obvious and/or credible alternative. But to simply shout
“at least Oprah is better than Trump” is to fall for the shallow, populist razzamatazz that got him elected in the first place. America needs to be better than that to dig itself out of this hole. A start would be electing a president – of either party – with knowledge and experience of public policy.
The Democrats have long been accused of failing to put up people with charisma for president, and there is some truth in this. But as Barack Obama showed, a candidate in possession of both style and substance can win the day. Winfrey undoubtedly has the former, but there is no real proof – yet – of the latter.
If she is serious about being leader of the free world, Winfrey should use her star power to help elect whomever Democrats choose to fight the 2020 election and find herself a seat in Congress, thus arming herself with the sort of experience that leads to political substance. Then the White House could be hers. President Winfrey in 2024? Yes she can.
You can just about imagine the press briefings: ‘President The Rock spoke to the Iranian president by telephone this morning…’