by Yvette Carnell
Oprah Winfrey wants everyone to know that even though she’s not on the campaign trail alongside President Obama, she still supports
him. The Queen of All Media, who stumped for Obama in 2008, says she won’t be going that route again in 2012 because it’s not necessary.
“I don’t need to endorse him because I am a 100% supporter of him and I’ve already endorsed him,” Winfrey told CNN. ”If he or his office called me tomorrow and said that they needed me I would do whatever I thought would be of service.”
Winfrey went on to say that part of the reason she campaigned for Obama in 2008 was so she could educate the public. “My own friends didn’t even know who he was at the time,” said Winfrey.
In the bottom of the barrel brand of American politics, President Obama is the much touted “lesser of two evils”. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Winfrey’s choice is very much in alignment with the choice of most other left leaning voters.
But even if Winfrey were displeased with Obama’s performance, what are her other options? Did anyone really expect that she’d come out and do an about face, or throw her weight behind another candidate? That’s just unfeasible. Oprah helped craft Brand Obama and until his name is off the ballot, she doesn’t have anywhere else to go. The die has been cast. They’re political bedfellows. And there’s nothing either of them can do about it at this stage in the game, even if one of them did have misgivings.
Yvette Carnell is a former Capitol Hill and campaign staffer turned writer. She is currently an editor and contributor to Yourblackworld.
