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How will Oprah's endorsement affect 2008?
Steve Adubato, Ph.D.
MSNBC Media Analyst
Adubato: Winfrey must be tough on the campaign trail
This is the first of MSNBC Media Analyst Steve Adubato’s
“Media Monitor” columns, which will track and analyze
the media’s influence and role in the 2008 presidential campaign.
Just a few days ago, on MSNBC and MSNBC.com, I was praising Oprah
Winfrey for her strong leadership in connection with the growing
sex abuse scandal at the South African school that bears her name.
Oprah is much more than the “Queen of American Media.”
Unlike most corporate executives, she knows how to handle a media
firestorm and crisis and take control of an embarrassing situation.
And who is a more generous media star than Oprah? Did you see this
week’s “Oprah’s Favorite Things” show in
which she gave out $7,000 worth of gifts to each of her 300 audience
members? That's $2 million in total! You’ll never see Leno,
Letterman or Jimmy Kimmel do something like that.
Make no mistake: Oprah is the media’s brightest star. Powerful,
popular, a media kingmaker, super book seller, etc. Except, now
Oprah has entered an arena that has the potential to bring her nothing
but grief, aggravation and embarrassment. She had every right to
endorse Barack Obama for president and raise big money for him.
Oh sure, Hillary Clinton and her pals are peeved, but Obama’s
“audacious” and charismatic candidacy gives Oprah an
out. But now, the stakes have been raised.
Obama has just moved ahead of Hillary in Iowa, and was so pumped
up that he announced that Oprah would soon be stumping for him in
Iowa and possibly New Hampshire. Obama clearly gets a big boost
by having Oprah out on the trail with him. Her star appeal, together
with his, is a media magnet. Together with the new Iowa poll results,
the Oprah announcement continues to shift the media focus away from
Obama’s dismal debate performance in Las Vegas last week —
especially his convoluted and confusing response to simple questions
about whether illegal immigrants should be able to get a drivers
license.
But the stakes for Oprah are very different. A savvy a media performer
as she is — especially when she’s on her own studio
couch — the presidential campaign trail is a risky place for
her. It’s an arena that is getting uglier, nastier and more
personal by the day. What happens when Oprah is campaigning side-by-side
with Obama, with dozens of media crews in tow, and she gets asked
a few pointed and tricky questions:
- “Hey, Oprah, what did you think about Barack telling those
high school kids about his drug and alcohol abuse when he was
in school? Substance abuse experts say he was sending all the
wrong messages. Was he wrong?"
- “Hey, Oprah, Obama has implied that Hillary is ethically
challenged. Is she, and is that one of the reasons you didn’t
support her?”
- “Hey, Oprah, Hillary has said that the media and some
of her opponents, including your candidate, are attacking her
personally, partly because she’s not a member of the “old
boys network.” What do you think?”
- “Hey, Oprah, now that you’re out front campaigning
with Obama, how are you going to have Rudy, McCain or Hillary
(if she wins the Democratic nomination) in your studio? Isn’t
that going to be awkward?”
- “Hey, Oprah, is Barack being black a major factor in your
support of him? Since your audience and fans are mostly all women,
many of whom who happen to love Hillary, why did you reject the
first woman with a real shot at becoming president?"
Oprah supporters say she’ll have no problem dealing with
any of these questions. I don’t buy it. Presidential campaigns
are set up for the “gotcha” game. We in the media thrive
on it. We count on it. Plus, now that Oprah is so out front and
accessible in her support of Obama, she’ll be put in positions
to be confronted by the media and have to defend some controversial
and downright dumb things Obama says.
If she says “no comment” or refuses to respond, that’s
not going to cut it. And if she says she wants to remain above the
fray and stay positive, that’s going to be problematic because
she’s entered a very dirty arena that neither she or anyone
else can clean up. You see, if you’re going to get in a ring
where mud is being thrown from all directions, you’re very
likely to get some on you, even if you’re Oprah Winfrey.
Write to Steve Adubato at steve.adubato@stand-deliver.com
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