With media mogul Oprah Winfrey reportedly considering a run for the Democratic presidential nomination and a large section of the Democratic establishment being at least interested in supporting her candidacy for the Democratic nomination, it’s time for me to talk about reasons why I wouldn’t support Oprah unless she wins the Democratic nomination.
I will begin by saying that I don’t have an issue with the fact that she’s never held government office of any kind. Criticizing Oprah or anyone else without prior experience in government is elitist, and there isn’t a provision in the U.S. Constitution requiring the president to have served in prior elected or other government office, and I wouldn’t support such a requirement. There will be, in all likelihood, a very large field of Democratic presidential candidates (possibly as many as 20-35 candidates) come early 2020, with candidates coming from many different backgrounds.
Since there's not a whole lot that is known about Oprah’s own political views, here are currently three main reasons why I would not support Oprah’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Her support for the unjustified Iraq War
Like Hillary Clinton and many other right-wing Democrats, Oprah supported the unjustified Iraq War that was supported by, among others, George W. Bush:
Bill Kristol supports Oprah
Kristol, who is a far-right war hawk, is one of Oprah’s most vocal supporters, as a lot of his recent tweets have been supportive of Oprah. Although Kristol is critical of Trump, Kristol is critical of Trump because Kristol is an actual right-wing extremist instead of an incompetent crook like Trump is. Kristol is no progressive, he never has been a progressive, and he never will be a progressive.
Oprah’s support for shady individuals like Dr. Phil and Jenny McCarthy
Oprah didn’t become a wealthy media mogul by inheriting anything, but she made quite a bit of her wealth promoting shady individuals. Oprah has helped promote people like Jenny McCarthy, who is an anti-vaccine extremist, Dr. Phil McGraw, whose own show has supplied booze and drugs to addicts, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who has promoted “miracle pill” nonsense.