Oprah Winfrey endorses presidential candidate for the first time: Barack Obama

[buttmunch]

It’s usually pretty easy to quantify what Oprah Winfrey’s stamp of approval can mean: her book club catapults titles to the top of best-seller lists, and her nods at other products send consumers racing to buy them.

But does her magic touch extend to the realm of presidential politics?

Last week, for the first time, Ms. Winfrey endorsed a political candidate, Senator Barack Obama, Democrat from Illinois. In an interview on “Larry King Live” on CNN, she said she was backing the senator “because I know him personally.”

Ms. Winfrey said that she had not made a financial contribution to Mr. Obama’s campaign, but acknowledged that her public endorsement was probably far more valuable. Campaign finance laws would prohibit her from donating more than $2,300 in the primary and $2,300 in the general election.

“I think that what he stands for, what he has proven that he can stand for, what he has shown was worth me going out on a limb for,” Ms. Winfrey told Mr. King on Tuesday. “And I haven’t done it in the past because I haven’t felt that anybody — I didn’t know anybody well enough to be able to say, ‘I believe in this person.’ ”

If the Obama campaign is rejoicing, it is doing so in private and offering a politely circumspect public comment. “Barack Obama has tremendous respect for the kind of role model Oprah Winfrey is for young women like his two daughters, and he is honored to have her support,” a campaign spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said in an e-mail message.

A spokeswoman for Ms. Winfrey’s company, Harpo Productions, said that she was traveling and unavailable for comment.

Even considering her broad popularity, Ms. Winfrey’s entry to the political waters does have risks, said Alex S. Jones, the director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. “If you see that she has a lot of fans who are not necessarily going to vote for Barack Obama, you have to calculate that she may take a commercial hit,” he said.

That said, Mr. Jones added, “Oprah is very credible. I would say that this endorsement is about as important of one as you could have right now.” Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat from New York, he surmised, is probably “not terribly happy about” it.

Keith Boykin, a frequent commentator on CNN who was a classmate of Mr. Obama at Harvard Law School and worked in the Clinton White House, said Ms. Winfrey’s endorsement did not mean Mr. Obama was a shoo-in for president. “Oprah was behind the movie ‘Beloved,’ and it was a flop, so it’s not true that everything she touches turns to gold,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/bu...gewanted=print

I can't stand saint Oprah, but at least this will help make up middle America's mind.

[Grimmlok]

Yeah, not to be crass but im pretty sure there's only 1 reason why she endorses him.. the same reason Jesse Jackson defends only defends certain people in court..

[crumpet]

Wow. What a surprise.

[darksithbunny]

Oprah has lost her damn mind.

[Just Kill Me]

Oprah needs to shut it. Anyway; a blackish man will be president before a woman... Here's the funny thing; how many people read The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter before Oprah shat it's title from her mouth? Bitch needs to stop taking my high school recommended reading list and passing it off as her book club... The point is; how many people will vote for Obama just because Oprah said so?
We all know neither of those will happen anyway...

[purewine]

In an interview on “Larry King Live” on CNN, she said she was backing the senator “because I know him personally.”

That's a dumbass reason to support someone for president. How about where he stands on the issues? How about because you think he can lead this country (esp. after the mess Bush put us in)?

Yeah, I agree there's only one reason she's endorsing him and it's not his qualifications. You know, if people start saying we should vote for Obama because he's black it's going to open a can of worms and taint his presidency if he should win. Racist white pricks will claim he won *only* because he's black. Oprah isn't helping matters any by pulling this stunt.

<stepping off my soapbox now.>

[Born In A Brothel]

The point is; how many people will vote for Obama just because Oprah said so?

Nah, I don't think so, maybe a few. Obama has done pretty good gathering what, 25 million from small donors? 90% have come in the amount of $100 or less.

I think he would do damn well even without Oprah's endorsement.

Small donors aren't going to give to people that oppress them with our without O.

[McJag]

I think she should stick to books. There are things in his background that worry me. A lot. All this will be more discussed soon.

[Just Kill Me]

OOOOOH like what? His muslim schooling?

[blissfullyunaware]

I hope Hilary Clinton is the USA's next president....go Hilary!

[Just Kill Me]

I hope she isn't. I don't care for any of them; I think they are all pieces of shit.
Why Hilary? Because she's a woman? She's inconsistent and hyprocritical; while these qualities are found in all of our presidents I'm getting a bit tired of it.

[McJag]

I got this. I don't know how much is true, but some of it bothers me:
BARACK OBAMA

Probable U. S. presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black Muslim from Nyangoma-Kogel, Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white atheist from Wichita, Kansas. Obama's parents met at the University of Hawaii.
When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya. His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a radical Muslim from Indonesia. When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia. Obama attended a Muslim school in Jakarta. He also spent two years in a Catholic school.



Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, "He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school."


Obama's political handlers are attempting to make it appear that Obama's introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son's education. Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Obama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta. Wahabism is the radical teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world.





Since it is politically expedient to be a Christian when seeking major public office in the United States, Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background.


Let us all remain alert concerning Obama's expected presidential candidacy.


I really don't like the idea that he joined a church, just to appease. At least he should own up.

[Born In A Brothel]

^

Is Barack Obama a Muslim? - Netlore Archive

[Just Kill Me]

He has owned up; these things were discussed in the numerous interviews he's given like the one on 60 Minutes... I love when they discuss whether or not he is "black enough" (I like to call him blackish) and he says that he still has a hard time hailing a taxi...
I really don't think Obama is a sleeper cell; fucking Manchurian Candidate.

[McJag]

Me either. There are still things in that background I just don't like. All candidate have things I don't like. I think he is Muslim more than Church of Christ and I would feel better if he just said so. There are wonderful Muslim leaders who are enlightening people about Muslim vs Extremist so idiots don't slam ALL and I think he could do much more.