Forget Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice:
It's Bill & Hillary & Barack & Oprah
That's the million-dollar question as the Obama campaign puts her front and center in Iowa in two weeks to rally support for him.
According to an article in today's Washington Post, Oprah is girding her loins for a showdown against another candidate's stand-in who wields his own star power - Bill Clinton. The charismatic hubby bubba (and ex-pres) is already in Iowa (or should be arriving sometime today) to stump for Hillary. That's to be expected, of course. She is, after all, his spouse...and what chivalrous man would not step in to defend the honor of his wife now that the fighting is getting both serious and dirty?
But Oprah is a whole 'nother kettle of fish. She has never endorsed a presidential candidate before.
Like virtually every other woman on earth, I love Oprah. Love love love Oprah. I don't watch her show or follow her every move, but I love what she's done with her fame, her fortune, her ability to change the world.
But now I'm not so sure I love what she's about to do.
There's really no difference between Oprah stumping for Barack Obama and any other Hollywood celebrity doing the same, is there? Yes and no.
I'm both fascinated and horrified by the wooing of the 'women's vote' in Iowa, which many feel is key to winning the state. I'm fascinated because it's about time we are valued as thinking, voting human beings. But I'm horrified that Obama's campaign sees Oprah as an Easy Button they can punch to get the results they want; Oprah's popular with women, so let's get her out there.
We women are thinking, voting human beings, and that's why it's wrong to generalize that we'll all vote for Hillary because she's a woman or that we'll all vote for Obama because Oprah told us to do so.
We'll vote for whomever it is that speaks to our needs and recognizes our value, that betters our condition and levels the playing field between genders. I want to make that decision intellectually, not emotionally just because I shook hands with Bill or Oprah.
So, yeah, it's fun to watch from the seats on the side. I'm just glad I'm not living in that three-ring circus right now.
Comments
I don’t see what the problem is then? If there are two emotive possibilities, then there are two choices which can be made by thinking, evaluating women.
Unfortunately, single women (including widows and the divorced) are the least likely demographic to vote. If it takes Oprah to mobilize some of those women, then that’s what it takes. And who’s to say that she can’t endorse whoever the heck she wants to?