Oprah and Obama its no Secret
By Michael Bresciani (09/08/07)
Oprah Winfrey endorsed Obama's campaign in May of 2007 and now has
announced plans to step up the Barackian coalition to bolster his bid for
the presidency.
The Obama endorsement may be good news for Oprah who always seems to need
a cause and good news for Obama who needs all the help he can get. It is
bad news for the rest of us including some liberals and Democrats.
Oprah psyches up her gushing adherents to the tune of 8.4 million viewers
a day. Her website boasts 2.3 million unique visitors a month. Her
magazine, newsletter and the Oprah Alert e-mails reach another 4 million
Americans although they are obviously redundancies from the aforementioned
groups.
She plans to yield her sprawling 42 acre property presumptuously called
“The Promised Land” to the fund raising efforts of the Obama campaign. By
some estimates she may be able to raise somewhere between 3 and 5 million
dollars for Barack’s race for the White House. She indicated that it may
not end there and that she may sponsor and produce ads for Obama.
Oprah’s endorsement for the Obama campaign slips out from under the “equal
time” rules of the FCC because the rules do not apply to news programs,
documentaries or interview shows in which a single candidate is the only
focus point of the show. Republican lawyers will want to take a closer
look at these laws now since Matthew Mosk of the Washington Post reported
in Houston’s Chronicle’s online site September 6 2007 that in an audio
forum aired recently Oprah said “the Obama’s will be her only political
guests.”
That Oprah could sway a huge contingent of folks is not in dispute. Phil
Rosenthal said in the Chicago Tribune Web Edition September 7, 2007 “The
Oprah brand is undeniably a powerful thing. Most TV shows have an
audience. She has a congregation.”
That her influence can beat the heretofore 0/0 record of celebrity
influence to pull a presidential race over the finish line is in question.
Two remaining questions will plague her effort and have begun already.
The first is the Ross Perot kind of vote sucking that pulled George H. W.
Bush from office and gave Bill Clinton the necessary margin to step in.
The heat will be felt first in Hillary’s camp and the whole Democratic
machine will suffer from the schism. Votes gleaned from Hillary can only
translate into votes garnered for the GOP candidates. The only question is
how many?
The second question has to do with evangelical Christians from either
party. To many believers Oprah is less gilded and more Hollywood chrome
plated. The snafu with James Frey’s “A Million Little Pieces,” giving away
cars on prime time and helping kids in Africa while ignoring our own youth
do not get her any points with Christian conservatives.
To the more discerning and biblically well read among the evangelicals the
nature and message of Oprah’s much touted “The Secret” authored by Rhonda
Byrne falls under the category of more prosperity gospel hype. This book
is a clarion call to all who want to feel good, self affirm and get rich.
Nothing new here, appealing to what everybody already wants is no secret.
Neither The Secret nor the rest of the prosperity gospel hype Christianity
is now plagued with comes with a disclaimer but if the fine print were
included it would read like this. In case of a stock market crash and or
an entire economic crash the shelf life of these claims is limited to one
week…maybe.
It is also no secret that Obama stands in full opposition to the repeal of
Roe V Wade and is openly endorsing gay marriage. By association this is
Oprah’s stand as well and it will take more than her fifteen minutes of
fame to sway over two hundred years of American faith in the sanctity of
life and a reasonable national morality. America doesn’t need a doctrine
that sways in every new wind that blows across the fruited plains.
In the mean time Obama’s got Oprah, Edwards has got labor, Thompsons’ just
got started and Keyes has almost got drafted. Keyes? Yes if you’re truly
conservative then you might want to take a look at Dr. Alan Keyes who is
seeing a growing number of Americans interested in getting him petitioned
into the race. Dr. Keyes is the founder of the grassroots Renew America
movement that appeals to both young and old across both red and blue
states.
Those who are concerned about our headlong rush into everything pop
culture oriented are not as likely to be swayed by TV’s currently reigning
female deity. Conservatives may not be able to get the entire nation to
return to higher values in Toto but they are not going to give up hard won
ground without a serious fight.
The days when pioneers and plainsmen struggled just to survive may have
long since passed but those roots will not be pulled up willingly or
easily by mainstream Americans.
Conservatives will have to choose carefully, stump ferociously and stand
up and be counted to pull this one off. It does well to remember that
holding the line may not seem very illustrious in a world of marvelous new
changes but no orderly change is possible in a world that has fallen into
confusion.
Ariel Durant who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and
authored “The Story of Civilization” put it this way “The conservative who
resists change is as valuable as the radical who proposes it.”
Conservative minded Christians always take their cue from their Rock.
“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:8
Rev Bresciani
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