At the 2018 Golden Globe Awards event Ms. Oprah Winfrey gave a speech that was called by many the first shot in a battle to become President of the United States in 2020.
Good for her, depending on how she stands on National Defense and the Second Amendment, I could vote for her; after all what is not to like?
Ms. Winfrey is the richest, or at least was the richest woman in the entire world, beating out the Queen Mum of England, got to love that. She owns a very large corporation, Harpo, and is worth in 2018 per Forbes an estimated 2.8 billion, that’s billion with a B. She was voted the most admired capitalist in the country, beating out Bill Gates and Richard Branson. W
hat is not to love?
So where is the rub, the tarnish on her star? The “feel the burn” folks, the Senator Bernie Sanders folks, the socialist-loving, capitalist-hating left of center folks in the Democratic Party. It will be a hard sell for her to sell to the true believers that the richest, most successful woman in the world is an anti-capitalist, pro-socialist.
Her tax returns will show how her corporation took advantage of legal tax breaks for the rich, called corporate welfare by the left, and how she banned for life her employees from speaking freely about her. Free speech is a big issue with the hard left.
She may indeed run as a Republican, that would be nice, but probably not, even though she is closer to a Republican than a left of center Democrat. President Trump stated on at least two occasions that she would be an excellent choice for his vice president. In a Democratic primary that would not help her much.
Ms. Winfrey was selling her home in Elmwood Ill., home for just under four hundred million, has a condo in Chicago worth seven point seven million, and a luxury home in California that is way out of my price range. Selling her as a poor, oppressed double minority may be a bit difficult. Selling her as a very successful Republican capitalist who is a friend of corporate America would be a bit easier.
Ms. Winfrey earned her billions as a sales person, selling soup, diets, books and advertising. A holy grail of the hard left is advertising is evil and those who do it are darn near criminals. It will be a very hard sell for her to become president, but then she is one of the best in the world at marketing and sales; I would not rule her out.
Oprah in 2020, why not?
Why not run? Is Don Rickles still alive? I would nominate him as well.
Mr. Williams,
Thank you for the comment.
Died: April 6, 2017, Beverly Hills, CA, a great loss to our nation.