Week of 01/22/2018

Oprah 2020?
– by David Matthews 2

So one of the recent questionable news stories that came out during my annual “holiday break” from commentary was the possibility of Oprah Winfrey running for President in 2020.

Yes, Oprah.

This came about after her Obama-like speech at the Golden Globes Awards, where she lectured men and energized women and people started to see shades of another figure that Oprah once had a hand in creating that eventually became the President of the United States.

To be clear, as of this column’s posting, this is still all speculation and wishful thinking.  It goes into the same category as Kanye West and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson running for president.  They’re just names and ideas and fantasies.  Mostly fantasies.

Then again... one of those names bantered about in that category used to be... Donald J. Trump.  And then all of a sudden it wasn’t just wishful thinking or a fantasy.  Now he’s our mess to deal with.

The “script” says that this idea of Oprah running is a non-starter.  Then again, the “script” said the exact same thing about Donald Trump.  The “script” is not infallible. 

But let’s speculate for a moment about what would happen should Oprah decide to take the plunge into the 2020 circus.

First of all, this would be a huge donkey-kick to the ovaries of one Hillary Rodham Clinton.  Despite her promises to the contrary, I suspect that Hillary would want to squeeze in one more try at the presidency.  She’s still throwing her name and face about, still trying to remain relevant, and still in denial about why she lost the 2016 Farce. Does that even remotely sound like someone not considering another run for the White House?

Oprah Winfrey deciding to run in 2020 would be a donkey-kick to Hillary in two different ways.  First, because Oprah is more popular than Hillary ever could be, and second, because Oprah quite literally blocked Hillary’s first run at the White House in 2008.

Remember the whole 2008 mess?  Early on, it was supposed to be Hillary’s nomination.  The “script” wanted it to be between Hillary Clinton and New York Thug Rudy Giuliani; a so-called “Subway Fight”.  But then Oprah saw this freshman senator named Barack Obama, and she gave him the push that he needed to upset the primaries and caucuses and get the Democratic Party nomination instead of Hillary.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Oprah Winfrey made Barack Obama.  Make no mistake about it.  She certainly has the public clout to challenge Trump.

Some people whine that Oprah wouldn’t win because she “doesn’t have experience” or that “she’s a celebrity, not a politician”.  Okay, all of you who are still trying to play that card need to shut the hell up – and that includes you, failed hack Sean Spicer – because we are seeing right now that the “experience” card is pure bunk.

The idea that a “celebrity” can’t run for or be president certainly didn’t apply when it came to the election of Ronald Reagan to the White House back in 1980.  Despite his career as Governor of California, back then his candidacy was dismissed because he was simply “an actor”... and a questionable one at that.  He was referred to as “That guy from ‘Bedtime for Bonzo’”.  Didn’t stop him from running and winning against President Jimmy Carter, and then winning re-election against a career politician named Walter Mondale who thought that he was “experienced enough” and that it was “his turn”.

And the idea that a “non-politician can’t win” was rendered moot even before Reagan.  Remember retired General Dwight Eisenhower?  Ike wasn’t a politician; he was a celebrated war leader from World War II.  He was a celebrity.  That didn’t stop people from insisting that he run for the White House, which he did in 1952... and won.

Plus, we have Donald J. Trump, who campaigned on the idea that he “wasn’t a politician” (even though he is one now) and that the politically-experienced people were really part of the problem in government.  Trump’s surprise nomination and election over all of the career politicians proves that “experience” is not a requirement.  Of late, it’s even been a downright detriment.

What better way to derail Trump than with someone who is his opposite on so many levels, and is someone that is more popular and celebrated than he ever was?

Let’s get brutally honest here... Oprah Winfrey is the perfect candidate for the Democrats, because she epitomizes everything that liberals and progressives want.  She pushes for change, she strives to improve lives, and she’s not above showing generosity.  Remember the whole “everyone gets a car” thing?  Anyone want to see that on a national level? 

Oprah Winfrey is quite literally everything that Donald Trump is not!  She is his nightmare; a strong celebrated African-American woman with a liberal history and media influence and a stronger following than he ever had, and that was even after the whole apple scandal.

The only real reason why Oprah wouldn’t be considered a suitable challenger to Trump, never mind someone who could beat him, would be if the Democratic Party had someone decidedly better waiting in the wings.  And, unfortunately for the Democrats, they have squat!

Think about it!  The Democrats have nothing in terms of leadership anymore.  Former Vice President Joe Biden is the closest they have, and he’s not really committed to another failed White House run yet.  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is so badly hated in America that the GOP has successfully been able to campaign in other elections against her instead of the actual candidate on the ballot!  Senator Bernie Sanders would be a good candidate, but the Democratic National Committee hates him because he supposedly “ruined” Hillary’s ascension, and after they screwed him over in 2016, I seriously doubt that he could trust them for a second time.

And then there is the train-wreck named Hillary… and I’m still waiting for her to pull an H. Ross Perot from 1996 and just say “I still own this party, therefore I name myself as the nominee!”

Face it, Democrats… Oprah Winfrey is your best bet!  She is your Donald Trump.  She has the popularity, she has the charisma, she has the compassion, and she has experience in helping people.  She is everything that you claim to cherish!

And there is another reason why the Democrats need Oprah to run.  They need someone strong enough to overpower the Cult of Trump.  Candidate Donald Trump was not a “nobody” when he first announced his campaign three years ago.  He was long-established as a celebrity and media personality.  He toyed with the idea of running for president over several years.  He stuck his narcissistic face in front of the Fox News cameras to keep his name going in the minds of the masses.  In the early years of my column, even I thought it might be a good idea for Trump to run… until I found out how bad his narcissism is.  And that was, of course, before he delved into his alt-wrong ideas.

But the Cult of Trump was a long-time brewing, and the Democrats do not have the time to build up a career politician with a sick sense of entitlement into a popular figure that can counter Trump.  They need to fight fire with fire.  They need a loved celebrity to counter a populist narcissist.

Think about this: every time since 1980 that a political party put up a so-called “experienced” candidate against a popular one, that “experienced” candidate lost.  Every.  Single.  Time.

Here’s one more reason why the Democrats should seriously consider Oprah: the conservative groups are already throwing screaming temper tantrums at the very thought of her running for president.   It’s one thing for Kanye West to announce it.  Conservatives and neo-conservatives and the red-hats were laughing their asses off at that.  Same with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.  A professional wrester and action movie star running for President of the United States?  Please!  He has a hard enough time working with Vin Diesel!

But Oprah?  Even the suggestion that she run had the editors of “The Federalist” – a publication that I used to have respect for – screaming like children in the Walmart that we should just abolish the office!  Conservative and neo-conservative groups are scared of Oprah, because they know that she could very well defeat Trump.

Personally, I don’t know if I would vote for her.  I would need to know more about her and how she views individuals and how she views the country.  But isn’t that what the whole campaign process is supposed to be about?

I know some people are whining like babies about how celebrities are supposedly “ruining” the political process.  No, children, your hyper-partisan tantrums and your failure to promote real alternatives in favor of your spoiled entitled career politicians, not to mention your dictatorial duopolistic death-cult adherence to two dominant parties through archaic and anti-American gerrymandering games, have already ruined the political system in America.  The recent government shutdowns from the 1990’s on to today are proof of that.  The rest of us are just trying to find a way out of this hole that you dug us all in while we still have a country left.

We all need to accept a basic truth about the office of the President of the United States.  It is not some entitlement position to be given to career politicians that “pay their dues” and “wait their turn”.  It is a position of leadership, and quite often charismatic people can be mistaken for leaders.  It has nothing to do with having “political experience”.  At all.

If you don’t believe me, then take a look at the face of the one-dollar bill.  George Washington, America’s very first President of the United States, was not a politician.  He saw himself as a solider, not a politician.  He took the job because he recognized there was a need for sound leadership and he was considered popular enough as a military leader to be the first leader of the new nation.  And he limited himself to two terms in office.  There was no rule back then about how long he should stay in office.  He did that on his own.  That shows true character.

In the nearly two-and-a-half centuries since General Washington became president, we’ve run the gambit of different kinds of leaders from political to pragmatic to populist.  The idea of Oprah Winfrey running for that office is only radical in the minds of those that are in fear for their own pampered careers.