I Have the Test Results... And Oprah You Are NOT A Kingmaker

There's been talk about Oprah leading Obama to the promised land -- the White House in '08. I am confused why folks are talking so reckless. Don't get me wrong I dig Oprah (I dug her more when she use to have a 'bit' of journalistic integrity -- see her show in Macon Georgia from back in the day) but to bring Oprah's name in the same breath of being a kingmaker....it just makes me think what HAS Oprah done lately to warrant such a title.

For Obama to win the presidential election he will need a kingmaker -- Oprah ain't it though. Obama needs someone who is well versed in the electoral map and can give his campaign the air of 'winability'. Democrats will not vote for Obama in the primary if they think he can't win the general election. For him to win the general election he has to do more than talk a good game and show up - he will need to play the electoral numbers game. Honestly he will have to do more than the democrats have done over the last few election cycles. While the 'war' may get people to get up and go to the voting booth it will not get them to vote (what's the saying about leading a jackass to water...). The second term Clinton win left the democratic get-out-the-vote effort seriously in a shambles (it was such a 'cake'walk' the dems didn't need to put together a solid GOTV effort). Gore spent much of the 2000 cycle trying to put the GOTV effort back together but to no avail. The 2004 race saw the 'blue' states shrink to a dismal handful level (in part because the plan was to push blue voters out in large urban pockets to sway red states to go blue -- similar to the way Gore won Pennsylvania despite it being a Regan Democrat state at best). Obama (actually any democrat other than Hillary) will need to pick up a couple of smaller / mid-level electoral states (ie Ohio, Arizona) in addition to the normal 'blue' states of New York California, Michigan, Massachesettes to win the general election. In order for that to happen Obama has to have a true political kingmaker who can identify pockets of dems in overwhelmingly 'red' states. Oprah is not that kingmaker, and arguably she's not even influential in the pop culture world.

There's no arguing that Oprah is rich. But she is not the tastemaker nor the 'early adopter' that is often associated with the pop culture kingmaker status. Oprah hasn't done squat for literature, her 'book club' trademark is barely able to get people to read dead white people much in less any new lit outside of the mainstream. Of course this is due in part to the lack of vetting of books before selection and having authors' who don't want the Oprah badge (Frazen's corrections) or have written memoirs that aren't factual (Frey's a million little pieces). Oprah actually did better in the lit field when she was introducing white women to Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison. Her magazine is not profitable as of yet (if you check the circulation numbers of O you will notice a stagnant readership and realize that since the magazine was re-branded as O it has not gained any significantly new readership). The only place Oprah has any sway at is with white women in Georgia (not even Illinois) and those women will vote for Hillary at the end of the day because they believe she will win the general election. Ultimately Hillary will stomp through back Georgia and turn on the Arkansas 'twang' and make them remember she's a 'southern' girl at heart -- and when they go into the voting booth they will decide to go with the southern drawl over the well-spoken first generation American.