MARY CARR
Doesn’t Liz just look divine... and doesn’t Hugh just know it too?
IT SAYS something about the strange desolation that has seeped into American consciousness, that a single electrifying speech that resonates with the multitudes is eagerly welcomed as the opening salvo in a distant Presidential campaign. Oprah Winfrey’s spine-tingling oratory at the Golden Globes made anointing her as the Queen of MeToo inevitable but it’s impossible to believe that the political dimension was accidental.
She’s an expert at working an audience and she knows ‘her people’; she rightly guessed how her passionate speech might catapult her from showbiz legend into White House contender and rising star of the political firmament. The refusal of her partner Stedman Graham to dampen speculation also suggests she is considering charting a course to Washington .
But how did Oprah know that all it would take was one stirring speech?
Perhaps she studied the euphoria released at the prospect of a black woman embodying liberal values becoming Commander-in-Chief after Michelle Obama’s I’m With Her speech, supporting Hillary Clinton at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
UNFORTUNATELY for Hillary, the force of Michelle’s words about waking up every day in a grand house built by slaves, did not so much win voters to her side than engender hope among many Democrats about the then First Lady running for President.
But Michelle Obama knows something about active politics, she has spent her working life as a political wife – it’s not that outlandish her becoming a candidate.
Oprah knows nothing other than what she has gleaned through journalism. She may share Michelle Obama’s warmth but she hasn’t the background to step into her shoes.
Yet it seems she may try. For whatever reasons, Americans seem willing only to contemplate dynastic politicians, former First Ladies and, since Trump, big name celebrities for leadership. The incredible reach of celebrity power, where it now infects even the arcane world of politics is also a factor. The celebrification of politics means that Oprah Winfrey can strive for a goal that up to recently would have been unthinkable. And on one level why not?
When it comes to star power and billions she is one of the few who can take on Trump on his own terms.
They are also evenly matched if ideologically opposed when it comes to the strength of their convictions. But unless the White House is to be let surpass the Oscars or Emmys as the ultimate prize for entertainers, Oprah’s claim on the office is no better than Trump’s. She is wildly successful, having carved a career out of her confessional broadcast style while inspiring millions with her rags-to-riches story and her survival of child sex abuse.
BUT she peddles junk science at impressionable audiences, lends credibility to the dangerous anti-vaccine movement, while her book club promotes dubious selfhelp bibles. She almost caused a diplomatic incident a few years ago, claiming that a saleswoman in a snooty shop in Switzerland wouldn’t let her look at a handbag with a €38,000 price tag. Oprah implied she was racist but the assistant said it was a misunderstanding. The incident showed her both thin-skinned and diva-esque. Her persona is that of a charitable person whose heart is in the right place. But she has no record of public service. She is entirely devoid of the political hinterland of policy formulation which the US has found so tragically lacking in Trump. Trump has debased the office of President with his antics. But entrusting his fellow celebrities to oust him, whether it’s Oprah or Kanye West will turn it into a joke.