Thursday, January 11, 2018

Oprah Winfrey for President?

This article first appeared in New English Review.

Image result for oprah winfrey


I did not watch the Golden Globe awards show, thus, I did not catch Oprah Winfrey's speech. Only today have I taken the time to watch it. Without nit-picking the content, I think we can all agree it was a powerful speech. She spoke without notes or a teleprompter and showed that she is a gifted public speaker.

I find it somewhat-though not altogether- curious that the left is rising up and declaring Winfrey to be the 2012 Democrat presidential candidate. One poll I saw today declares that she leads President Trump 48%-38%.

To which I say show me a great speaker, and I will show you-a great speaker. History is full of great public speakers who led their nations to disaster. Adolf Hitler was a great speaker who mesmerized millions of Germans. Josef Goebbels was an even greater speaker because he was more gifted with the language than Hitler and had a speaker's voice. I could add Fidel Castro and Benito Mussolini as gifted speakers. It didn't make any of them great men in the positive sense.

I am not in any way comparing Ms. Winfrey to the above people. Ms. Winfrey, I am sure, is a perfectly honorable person with good intentions. I doubt, however, that her great speaking skills would translate into a great president. Here I bring up former President Barack Obama. I would not lump him together with the above names either. However, in my view, Obama's undeniable speaking skills did not translate into him being a great president. Speaking as a conservative and a patriot, I believe he was a very bad president. I recall the speech he gave at the 2004 Democrat convention when he was a still-obscure Illinois politician running for the US Senate. His speech was a spell-binder and did not betray him as a leftist radical. Instantly, people took that speech and spoke of him as a future presidential candidate. Four years later, it happened and he was elected. Great speech-lousy president.

That doesn't mean I am dismissing Ms Winfrey as a presidential candidate, silly as it might seem. My first reflex is to ask,  "Why not Ellen DeGeneres? Why not Barbra Streisand? Why not Tom Brady?" The problem is that we have changed the boundaries in electing Donald Trump. Who would have imagined a couple of years ago that we would elect a famous real estate man as president? But it happened, and now we can no longer dismiss someone like Oprah Winfrey. Can you imagine Winfrey traveling the country and making campaign speeches like that? It worked for Obama, and now that we no longer insist that our presidents come from the ranks of politicians, it just might work for Winfrey.

Full disclosure: I voted for Trump, and I support his agenda (while I often cringe at his style). I am sure that I could not vote for Winfrey because I would not support her agenda, which surely is liberal. What I am saying is this: Anything can happen.

6 comments:

  1. I agree that Oprah has a gift of public speaking. She says the right things, at the right time, to the right audience.
    she is a brilliant business women who became a billionaire due to her business acumen. But, Oprah has a history. I see her pictures with Weinstein, Sharpton, Jackson, Obama and many supporters of the Left and their agendas. She has said some outrageous statements, such as: "Old White Men must die." These skeletons in her closet will not serve her well in a general election for President.

    Squid

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  2. Squid,

    How are Oprah's skeletons worse than Trump's? They didn't hurt him.

    Or do you think that Democrats care more about these kinds of skeletons than Republicans do?

    I mean, there might be pictures of her with Weinstein, but Trump basically did the same way as Weinstein.

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  3. Dudefrey,

    Time to get a global view of Americans want and do not want in a President. They do not want corrupt politicians who run money making organizations on the backs of taxpayers, or who lie at every opportunity. That is why Hillary lost. Another point is that Far Left Democrats have nothing to offer, but hate and deception as the MSM is pleased to display almost every day. Americans want results and they have it with the POTUS. Oprah represents the Far Left and Americans have had it with them.

    Squid

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  4. What kind of name is Broprah Dudefrey? I have a sneaking suspicion our old friend Lance is back on the prowl again.

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  5. Broprah was my grandfather's name. Dudefrey is from the Baron von Dudefrey of Lichtenstein.

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  6. Right. And my grandfather was the King of Siam.

    ReplyDelete