Obama who?

I must begin my entry by posing a question that has always bothered me in the world of celebrities. Why do people love Oprah so much? Audiences rave over her thoughts as if they are novel ideas and her every word is taken without reservation or question. In a time when the general public does not trust the President or even their next door neighbor, it is peculiar to me that a celebrity could have so much clout.

Oprah had recently gone on the presidential campaign trail to support Obama and received a good deal of criticism for her support of a black candidate rather than a woman. A post on her website reads, “For the first time in history we actually have a shot at putting a woman in the White House and Oprah backs the black man. She’s choosing her race over her gender”.

Personally, I have no issue with Oprah choosing a man over a woman or a black individual over a white one, because in the end, that is not what makes a good president.

As far as her image, Oprah’s public relations experts made the right decision to pull her from the campaign scene, which Obama’s aides said the reason was because she did not have spare time for the campaign. Either way, the controversy seemed to be suppressed in a political and rational manner. I would have probably done the same. This is just to show the power blogging and consumer generated content has on the media.