Oprah and Obama: Irony of the Week
The irony of the week is that Oprah Winfrey has come out strongly for Barack Obama as president. Why is that ironic? Because the subtext of Oprah's television show is that men are unreliable and women have to stick together.
So she supports a man for president in preference to another woman.
I like Obama very much, it is no reflection on him. But I think Oprah has some splainin' to do.
posted by Juan Cole @ 12/10/2007 06:15:00 AM
30 Comments:
"the subtext of Oprah's television show is that men are unreliable and women have to stick together."
Have you ever watched Oprah? The sub-text is not femmenistic its Oprah worship (this is the woman who made Dr Phil).
I too like Obama a lot (enough to be handing out bumper stickers and sending $). And I'm fine with Oprah Winfrey, but really don't pay that much attention to her.
And yet: I think you're being a little unfair. To the extent that I have paid attention, I think her objection is to men who let women down. I have always objected when men say feminists always ought to support the woman in the race: actually, we just would like to be judged by the same standards as the men in the race. Judging by my standards (most prominently, a vigorous defense of American constitutionalism and a preference for diplomacy over war), Obama clearly is the better candidate.
I don't know what Oprah's reasons are for choosing to back the candidate I back, but I actually don't think it has to do with race or sex: I think she has simply chosen to back the person, man or woman, who is the best candidate. (I usually purposely avoid her book choices, but after Jonathan Franzen spurned it, I read it: and it was good.)
Hi Juan,
I nearly fell off my chair laughing!!! :-))
Keep those insightful comments coming..
Happy Holidays and All the Best...
Well yeah, but I love my literal sister and she'd make a phenomenal president, but I already feel eclipsed enough by her. People call Oprah the most powerful woman in America, would that survive a Madam President?
Oprah has some "splainin'" to do?
As an avid reader I have to say, what a ridiculous post Prof Cole. Surely your worst.
That's a pretty primitive approach to politics Juan Cole. Women vote for women because they are women. Follows that blacks ought to vote for blacks because they are black. So Oprah follows your advice and finds she has to flip a coin... or more likely discovers that she trusts a black man or a black woman more than a white woman or white man.
i sympathize with Oprah. She is about nothing but the surface and remains true to her convictions. That's what television is all about. Check out Glenn Ford at Black Agenda Report for what thinking black men and women think about Obama. About the same as Hillary Clinton,just more attracive.
Obama's biggest supporters these days are Karl Rove and Robert Kagan, and rightly so as far as Kagan goes. Although he could support Hillary with as clear a conscience on the American imperialism front as Obama.
It is better to vote for someone you actually want to be President and not to get what you want than to vote for someone you don't want to be President and get what you voted for, to paraphrase Eugene V Debs.
Of course in Obama or Hillary you have the opportunity to vote for someone you don't want to be President and to not get what you voted for to boot. Like voting for Al Gore in 2000 or John Kerry in 2004.
I'm voting for Mike Gravel, and I'd advise the rest of us Americans who are unwilling to remain war criminals, for that's what we the people are in a democracy that refuses to end its aggression after six long years, to vote for Mike Gravel, or for Dennis Kucinich or Ron Paul. They are the only candidates who will put an end to the serial war crimes in the Middle East and ending the cold blooded murder of Americans and Iraqis and soon perhaps Iranians alike has got to be the number one priority. If I have to explain why that is then there's no hope for you, or for our nation if there are enough Americans who agree with you.
For a treatise on electability see Sean Penn, the renowned political scientist from Hollywood. When it comes to the smoke and mirrors business it takes one to know one.
Juan Cole, what a sexist remark! How can you possibly pass judgment on Oprah for her choice to support Obama for President? Don't you think that women have the capacity to determine who they feel would make the best president based not on gender but on other qualities? It's comments such as yours that continue to spread ignorance.
Hadn't thought of that. It's actually pretty funny.
(She also gave our California Gropinator a platform before his election, so who knows how solid her respect for women is.)
I'm not a big Oprah fan but maybe she is smart enough to realize that it's pretty much always better to evaluate people as individuals rather than as a member of a group.
I didn't say anything about women and voting. I said that Oprah regularly bashes men and promotes female solidarity. I have sat through endless Oprah exercises in demonizing husbands.
All husbands whose wives are Oprah fans have at some point actively suffered from her lash quite unfairly. And this is cynical on her part because she is playing to the daytime television demographic. I'm just amused that she should turn around and support a man in the race. I'm not letting it pass without at least some wry comment.
And, my readers should please get a sense of humor for heavens' sake!
Sorry Juan...I have never watched Oprah for more than a few minutes once or twice, so I have to take your word about the subtext of her show but if accurate, no explanation is necessary, just follow your own logic to its inexorable conclusion
I watched the podcast from SC yesterday, and I am fired, up, with councilwoman Edith Childs, ready to go!
Dr Cole, I can't believe you're spending your time watching Oprah.
Just mind-boggling! Almost out of character because it's such gooey mush. I think I've seen about 5 mins worth of Oprah about 3 times in my life -- and every time, I was bowled over, and thought: 'Gad, this is where the American public is?' About 5th grade? Not sure.
Have you considered taking up piano?
Luv your blog, as always. But now I've heard everything.
Hi Prof. Cole. I read IC just about every day, and I will continue to do so. If I were a church-going man, I would say that your sharp insights as well as your witty, graceful, and apparently effortless writerly style make IC a virtual godsend.
That said, I've got to say I agree with all the commenters who have said that this post about Oprah and Obama was pretty dumb. Also, there's just a touch of minstrelsy in the way that you render the word "explaining" in pidgin English. Give me a break, Prof. Cole.
It seems like you were just sort of joking around with this post, so I'm tempted to give a pass just for letting your sense of humor get the best of your better judgment. A more interesting post, for the future, might be to address the strange question of why Obama is generally perceived as being somehow more liberal or further to the left than Hillary, when his strategy of late has consisted of attacking her from the right on a variety of issues, social security in particular. I would certainly be interested to know your point of view on that, as I'm sure you could bring some compelling logic to the problem.
He is married to a black female future co-president. She could run after 8 yes of BHO. BTW, Ms O might have noticed that BHO is 100% GQ material, if you know what I mean (meow).
Actually, Oprah is rather naive politically (as well as on some other issues.) Some time ago she mentioned putting on Fox News which explained to me why she is sometimes shocked by reality. Obama is her home Senator. Maria Shriever is one of her very closest friends. If she were more politically astute she would never have allowed George Bush to be re-elected. Yes, she has that kind of power.
ref : “Oprah has some "splainin'" to do”
uh-oh! foot-in-mouth big time, mon professor (^_^)
Ah, but who will Dr. Phil endorse? That could be decisive in Iowa.
Professor Cole, I reinterate. Do you ever watch the show? I'm a man I did up until she gave Rudy Gulliani air time after 911 to give the lamest most self serving power point presentation Ive ever seen on "leadership". When he was done Oprah addressed him as "professor" Gulliani. I've never watched since. I must say though in all the time I did watch I never got the impression husbands had anything to worry about from the Oprah show unless you are a wife beater or secretly have two other wives. Your joke does come across as sexist.
Oh, geez, now they are illiterate in *popular* culture.
Splainin' is not minstrelsy, it is Ricky Ricardo.
Geez.
And, of course, any man who fights back against Oprah's relentless male-bashing on her show is going to be coded as a sexist. The very fact that it is so frequently about the bad characters mentioned by the reader is a sign of how skewed it is.
She is being hypocritical and I am calling her on it, and I am not backing down.
No splainin necessary. Any one in this country with a brain and a conscious knows that if we keep doing the same thing, we will keep getting the same result. We just need a different kind of politician. So whoever jumps on that bandwagon is welcome as far as I am concerned....whoever they are.
I usually appreciate your analysis, Juan, but that's just shallow. I'd imagine Oprah is basing her choice on a lot more than whether to choose a man or a woman, or for that matter a black candidate or a white one. For the sake of the country I hope that nobody makes their choices on such a limited basis.
Oprah for Obama is, among many things, Oprah against the war. That's the news, folks.
While this is your blog and you are free to write about whatever topic you wish, I'd hoped that your posts would stay focused on, "the Middle East, History, and Religion." This Oprah-Obama post seemed off-topic, IMHO... far off topic. (After the election or after the Dem nomination is final, it'd be on topic from a history perspective, if Obama wins both or the latter.)
George
Hey, I'm a woman, and I didn't take offense at what Prof. Cole said. Y'all need to lighten up, people. We have enough troubles and sadness in our world to take time out for a smile or two.
I don't watch Oprah.
Prof. Cole, I think you're a bit off the mark here. Suggesting that Oprah's endorsement of Obama is a shot across the bow of her largely female audience is a most patronizing view to take towards the political shrewdness of women. Yes Oprah does have influence, but celebrity endorsements of candidates do not sway women decisively.
Firstly I don't believe that the core of Oprah's program is about female unity; ultimately I believe it's about the Oprah brand, but that is neither here not there. But secondly I'd say that Oprah is under no obligation to do any "'splainin'" for her alleged disloyalty to her many female viewers. I really do not understand your point here.
Your "insight" is not ironic or funny. The subtext of Oprah's television show that men are unreliable and women have to stick together is not true.
Even if this statement was true, there are too many variables at play to provide such a simplistic statement that she should be supporting a woman over a man.
And don't try to cover this blog up by saying it's a joke. That's what I try to say to my wife when I say something stupid and she doesn't buy it... just like your readers aren't buying it.
The few times I tuned in, Oprah was lavishing praise on some hollywood star. She never struck me as being particularly man bashing, if anything she strikes me as more empowering of brown people. Sounds like Juan may be a closet misogynist.
Perhaps Oprah is supporting Obama because they're both from Chicago and have known each other for years.
Note to Juan:
Don't mess with Oprah! : )
wow, i like how this topic receives a ridiculous amount of response, compared with the dire and sometimes catastrophic news from the middle east that you post daily. guess this proves that people really care about oprah, despite her lame show and creepy magazine that always has her on the cover...
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