All those holding their breaths for an Oprah Winfrey 2020 presidential bid might want to exhale.
According to Winfrey’s BFF Gayle King, it ain’t gonna happen.
As King clarify previous comments made by Winfrey in an interview with Bloomberg:
And somewhere in heaven, Shirley Chisholm weeps…
But a girl – or millions of girls – can still dream, can’t we? And as far as I am concerned, there is no greater prospect for the future of this country than an Oprah Winfrey presidency.
In fact, if I were the DNC – or Republicans (hey, get in where you fit in, is my motto) – I would be doing everything in my power to persuade her to run on our ticket.
And it is not just because we have a walking snack food as our current president – therefore anyone can do the job.
As a candidate, Oprah actually does have the qualities, expertise and more importantly, the experience to lead this country into greatness.
Let’s review the facts, shall we:
Unlike our current president, Oprah actually is a successful business person. She is also self-made embodiment of the American Dream. Born into poverty in deep Mississippi, Winfrey didn’t have the privilege of getting a “very small” business loan of $14 million dollars from an already wealthy daddy to build her empire. Instead, she did it the unusual way: she had to work hard for it.
At the age of 17, she would win the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant. At 19, Winfrey became both the youngest and the first African-American co-anchor of her local television station’s news hour. At 32, she was producing and hosting the number one syndicated talk show in the country. And just ten short years later, she would make the Forbes List as the richest African-American woman in America.
Climbing from the backwoods of Mississippi to the board room of her very own network OWN, Winfrey has proven she has what it takes to run a country, but that she can be fiscally responsible too.
After all, Winfrey has never had anything to do with bankruptcy unless of course, it involved her financial gal pal Suze Orman giving out sound money advice. And you can’t say that about our current commander-in-chief.
She is also not afraid to stand up to powerful lobbyist groups. Proof of which is her historic victory over the entire Texas beef industry, which sued her after she made controversial statements denouncing the consumption of the meat on her wildly popular talk show. Regardless of how we personally feel about hamburger, there is no doubt The White House could benefit from a leader who is not already in the pockets of special interest groups.
Likewise, Oprah is an influencer. Never mind the legions of women who worship at the hemline of Winfrey’s Spanks. Let’s talk about The Oprah Effect and how her endorsement of the nation’s first Black president was worth over a million votes in the 2007 Democratic primary election. Being able to connect with people is a good sign of a strong diplomat. And with Madame Winfrey as president, we could not only find a way to coax Israel and Palestine to the table to talk peace, but find a polite way to make Putin finally have that seat he so desperately needs to take.
What also makes Winfrey a good presidential pick is her well-documented philanthropic work. It is estimated that her charities, which includes the Oprah Winfrey Foundation and the Oprah Winfrey Angel Network, are worth over $200 million dollars. And last year, she was voted “most charitable celebrity” by The Giving Back Fund for giving almost $40 million to various charities and causes in 2015. Therefore, with a heart as big as her pocketbook, there is no doubt a President Winfrey would do what she could to not only protect but expand entitlements and other social services.
Oh and did I mention Oprah actually gives a damn about education? In fact, her Oprah Winfrey Foundation has given more than $400 million to educational causes including 400 scholarships to the men of Morehouse. And she has built a school too. More specifically the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. And how can we forget how she helped to make reading cool – and profitable – again?
Something tells me that within the hypothetical Winfrey administration, we would never have to worry about a single library being closed again.
Winfrey is also a huge patron of the arts. Not only did she donate more than $12 million to the newly-opened Smithsonian Museum of African American History in Washington D.C., but she is also the reason why some very important Black film projects have managed to make it to the big screen. This is important considering there are reports about our current president threats to put funding for NPR and other art endowments on the chopping block.
Certainly, a President Winfrey wouldn’t allow such Philistine-behavior in her administration.
And she generally cares about people. And that is important. In everything Winfrey does there is an underlying moral and ethical reason behind why she did it. It’s not just about getting rich or just about achieving her goal of being the queen of all media. It’s also about helping people or helping people to help themselves.
That’s the kind of commander you can trust, in tough decisions, will make the right choice. And that’s the kind of leader who will no doubt work hard to put The People’s interest first.
Even with the bar being so low, there is no good reason to think Winfrey would not only make a good commander-in-chief but one of the best Presidents of our time.
But the question remains, how do we get her to run?
The post Why I Feel Oprah Winfrey Should Run For President appeared first on MadameNoire.