This post has been attacked as racist. It is not. But before you read it you might want to read the comment by me at the end of the post in response to the racism critique!
I have never understood Oprah's allure. She sells products, right? And if I am not mistaken that is the bottom line on the tv show. She sells.
One day she has a show about fat people and the next day she sells slimming products like hoodia or she does a show on poor people and then gives away cars for General Motors.
The show is a schuck and jive from the gitgo, albeit one that has been running for a long, long time.
So you can imagine how hard it is to top herself. How does she come up with something better than a golden toilet and/or a finishing school for girls in Africa? Enter Obama, stage right [and a little more right all the time]. Wooohooo.
Like two slippery slugs used to the limelight their antenae found each other. And the Oprah & Obama Show was born.
The fascination I have with this pairing is the shuck and jive aspect mentioned above. Oprah is not a woman of the people--but she is perceived as such--because she will tell you all about about her trials and tribulations with abuse, with weightloss, with_____fill in the blank. And like most hucksters she is quick to take the moral high road. Drugs? Not me. Oh, well, ok. I'll fess up :) Lesbian, me? Fugedabout it! Oh, ah. Ok, I'll fess up :)
Oprah is rich and she flaunts it all the while remembering her poor roots. And like most shuck and jive masters she spins a web impossible to unravel.
Obama is not a man of the people, either, but he portrays himself as such. Also as a man of principle. Which is a fall down laugh out loud funny.
But don't you dare recall the twists and turns in his political maneuvering, posturing and positioning or he'll come atcha with both barrels blazing. Paul Krugman, anyone?
Obama voted "present" rather than take a position in the Illinois Legislature on a woman's right to choose, and deprived of that option in the US Sentate he simply ducked out-- when it was time to stand up for Move On, for example, or to vote on censoring Iran.
Actually, Obama has taken so many positions on Iraq and Iran he could debate himself on prime time. This is a man who never met a hustle he didn't want to run. So why not bus in the folks from Chicago and Illinois to pack the Iowa caucuses?
I am not going to belabor this. All I guess I really want to say is Oprah and Obama are the same sort of shuck and jive showmen, and it is all a hall of mirrors. I wouldn't vote for Oprah for President, would you? So why would I vote for her new 'enthusiasm'? Oh, right. I forgot. It sells. Like the woman who went to their rally hoping they would give away free cars.
No racism was intended in this post!!!!
In the Urban Dictionary the first 2 definitions for shuck and jive are: 1) Not the whole truth; or manipulating something to get your way and 2) Shuck is to get rid of, ditch, throw away to try to shed your true image in favor of a false one. Jive is trying to adopt a new social status.
The third definition does have a racist word and I was appalled.
That said, this was not intended as some sort of racist attack. It was intended to highlight the pairing of a talk show entrepreneur with an unscrupuloous politician.
I used shuck and jive all the time and have never considered it racist. But I have to wonder about all the people who immediately rushed to that conclusion.
Sometimes you might ask if this was what was inteneded instead of assuming. I have been slammed on here for writing about my Mama--oops no racism intended--who has alzheimers. I was accused of being hateful. And also in relation to illegal immigrants. In every case no one bothered to read the arguments or the examples. There is absolutely no racist commentary in this post. It is simply stating the fact that one huckster has now paired up with another. Is that ok. Huckster? Does that pass muster and the political correctness police?