Posted on 01/12/2008 9:22:54 AM PST by jdm
Did Oprah get intimidated by women into backing away from her public support of Barack Obama? Could that have been one of the reasons Hillary Clinton pulled a surprise win out of New Hampshire? Robert Novak says yes:
The absence of Oprah Winfrey from the frantic four last days of the New Hampshire primary campaign after her heavy schedule in Iowa backing Sen. Barack Obama may be traced to heavy, unaccustomed post-Iowa abuse of the popular entertainment superstar by women.
Winfrey did not publicize it, but her Website was swamped with complaints after she went to Iowa. The principal complaint was that she betrayed women by not supporting Sen. Hillary Clinton. The criticism was described as personal.
I'm not certain how much Oprah had to do with Obama's success in Iowa in any case. Hillary had never gained a lot of traction there, and John Edwards beat her to second place on the back of the standard populist fare that won him second place in 2004. Is Iowa really Oprah Country?
However, exit polling in New Hampshire strongly suggests that women turned out much more heavily for Hillary than earlier polls had suggested, perhaps as much as 13 points stronger. Some of that may have come from the emotional outburst Hillary delivered on the eve of the primary. Perhaps some of that could have been turned around with an effort from Oprah on the trail in the last couple of days, especially in Nashua and Manchester, the largest cities and Hillary's strongholds in the Granite State.
If true, Obama may need supporters with a little more tenacity. Did Oprah not expect to receive criticism from her mostly-female constituency for not backing Hillary? Could she have been that naive about the likely reaction? If she wants to play in politics, she needs to prepare herself for the consequences of partisanship.
Oprah is not a king-maker. She never was and never will be.
She (as a king-maker) was an invention by the media, and they’ll rip her down as quick as they built her up.
It does sound like Oprah has been the recipient of a massive amount of fan disgust. That’ll open your eyes if nothing else.
Typical stoooooooooooopid lib women, don't support who's best for the country, support by gender,,,,,,,,no wonder women are portrayed as the weaker sex........
Actually, most of TV is now a waste of broadcast time with the exception of a few shows.
That didn't take long.
New Hampshire has 1.0% black population (2006 Census est.)
Perhaps that has something to do with the lack of appearances by Oprah.
Identity politics in all of its glory. When do the homos get uppity in the face of their brethren supporting Obama or Hillary over Breck girl?
Oprah is a black woman. The two leading democrat candidates are a white woman and a black man. If she supports the former, she is not being true to her race. If she supports the latter, she is not being true to her gender. Looks like identity politics just bit someone on her ample behind.
Poor Oprah! Calling Dr. Phil! Please pick up the black courtesy phone! I mean the white courtesy phone!!
I heard on TV the other day that Oprah’s website had been overrun by angry women complaining that Oprah was trying to shove Obama down their throats and they didn’t like it. Something that she never really counted on, and that may have been the reason she backed off.
Or the Clinton just paid some staffers to flood Oprah's message board with negitive comments.
Hah hah hah...
Yep... okay ladies, we’re going to leave at 9:00, vote by 10:00, vote again every two hours and meet back here by 8:00 to write Oprah letters for two hours.
Everyone got that straight?
Get another woman who will represent the entire American family unit. Hillary doesn't.
Yep.
That’s more like it; however I don’t believe a lot of women would vote for Hillary anyway.
In other words; she’s the wrong woman.
I also find it odd that black people are surrounding Obama. He’s half white.
Ain’t this world a kick in the pants?
Perhaps that has something to do with the lack of appearances by Oprah.
At 2.5%, Iowa's black population isn't all that much greater.
Just a question about the New Hampshire vote...How is it that the polls were accurate on the Republican vote but so terribly inaccurate on the Democrat side?
There are girls (women) I work with who want Hillary to win because they think it is about time a woman was in the White House. They have even remarked how we are behind other countries on giving women the ‘top job’.
Sometimes, I despair.
Yes it is.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.