Oprah Winfrey Throws Her Weight Behind Obama
HER seal of approval turns books into bestsellers. Can Oprah’s political recommendation translate into a seat in the White House for Barack Obama?The senator from Illinois must hope so after Oprah, who has never endorsed a politician before, threw her weight behind Obama during an interview on Larry King Live.
“I think that what he stands for, what he has proven that he can stand for, what he has shown was worth me going out on a limb for,” Oprah told King last week. “And I haven’t done it in the past because I haven’t felt that anybody — I didn’t know anybody well enough to be able to say, ‘I believe in this person.’ ”
A recommendation on Oprah’s book club has been said to be worth one million additional sales. Will Oprah’s backing be worth one million additional votes?
Alex Jones, a press, politics and public policy expert at Harvard University, tells the New York Times that Oprah runs the risk of alienating some viewers by backing one candidate. But he adds that Oprah is “very credible” and that her endorsement is “about as important of one as you could have right now.”
However influential Oprah’s opinion, the other Democratic contenders, especially Obama’s main rival, Hillary Clinton, will likely not be amused.
Posted: 7th, May 2007 | In: Anorak In New York Comment (1) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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May 7th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Noun 1. kingmaker - an important person who can bring leaders to power through the exercise of political influence; “the Earl of Warwick was the first kingmaker”