And I think she’s smart enough to know that. Democratic voters–and even swing voters–are in no mood for another self-centered candidate. Even some on the right may have had a bellyful of “stars” at this point.
If she has any chance to win over those with opinions such as have been posted in this thread, she has to build on the charitable work she’s done and enlarge that reputation, by becoming a politically-savvy, diligent worker for other Democrats. And of course she should do that anyway, as a patriotic American of means.
If he goes on to serve another term, we will never see another election, but the Trump monarchy. The first steps are already in place.
If he is defeated in 2020, he will continue being president.
I just can’t help myself from asking: what are these “first steps” that “are already in place”? Please, spell it out for those of us whose tinfoil hats aren’t quite as finely-tuned as yours.
A Winfrey campaign would be sweet for the Democratic establishment because liberals could smear progressives as racist brocialists, I mean even more than they do now. Strap in for some extremely woke imperialism.
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”
― Comrade Winfrey
I agree but Biden should still run because the younger candidates should be forced to prove they are superior. You go with the best candidate you can find. You can’t expect a Clinton or an Obama to be in every field.
Right now, the Democratic field looks like a cross between last year’s GOP field and the 2004 Democratic field.
In his case it probably still will be. The real risk for Democrats is that it’s just an immature way to think about it. “You guys elected an incompetent, unqualified idiot! So we get to do the same! Nyah!”
Then what happens is that both parties end up falling further and the number of independent voters continues to grow. Politics is not actually zero sum. Both parties can lose, as in the people in charge who fail will be replaced by other people who have different views on the issues. It’s fair to say that Donald Trump is a result of the absolute failure of Republican elites. If Democratic elites similarly fail to deliver what the people want, eventually they too will be replaced, either by better people, or by fire breathing idiots who are smarter in at least one respect: they know why the people are mad and have an alternative to offer that sounds kinda good.
It’s a further descent into celebrity culture with a dash of the society of the spectacle, at least if the logic is that the antidote to a racist, sexist billionaire man is a black self-made billionaire woman. Policy doesn’t matter beyond a gloss of cultural liberalism. This is all to protect the status quo, however. Now what would be really funny is if she started saying healthcare is a human right, the imperial machine must be smashed, and that monopolies need to be broken up. Suddenly all the “YAAAS SLAY KWEEN” Twitter libs would be singing a different tune.
I’m sure they’re crying into their tax cuts.
The system’s ability to absorb and co-opt dissent shouldn’t be underestimated. Look at Obama, Occupy, and the Tea Party. Trump himself employed populist rhetoric during the campaign to great effect.
Hell, Clinton wasn’t too many people’s odds-on pick in 1991.
If the Democrats run Oprah in 2020, they have learned the wrong lesson from this fiasco. Would she be a better President than Donald Trump? Sure she would, and Donald Trump would better represent the USA at the Ryder Cup than would Oprah Winfrey. That doesn’t mean he should.
What on earth are you basing such a ludicrous statement on? Do you know anything at all about Oprah Winfrey? Clearly not.
Yes, she’s a self-promoting media figure. Yeah, she’s showy and flashy. That’s where the resemblance to thump ends. She’s not a sexual predator. She was not born into wealth. She has pulled herself up by her own bootstraps. She does an enormous amount of good work with her huge fortune. I would say she has a fair amount of self-awareness, unlike thump. SHE READS BOOKS.
She’s not a saint, and some people (like you apparently) are put off by her self-promotion. But she’s no donald thump.
I fear that celebrity culture has so overtaken the primary process that a small state governor just can’t win anymore unless he’s found some way to make himself a celebrity. Clinton had a shot delivering the 1988 keynote, but laid a big fat egg, something which in this day and age would have ended his hopes forever.
Clinton also benefitted from the weakest field ever since Democrats assumed Bush 41 was unbeatable.
One thing I worry about with the Democrats is that the field seems to be filling up fast with people who simply should not be in it at all, like Terry Mac and Jason Kander, which could create a “16 politicians and Oprah” situation akin to the last Republican field. I also worry that the promising black candidates might be scared off, thinking they can’t compete with Oprah for black voters, which would make things even worse, creating a “16 white politicians vs. Oprah” situation.
Sure, the situation is more complicated than that, but both sides actually have fallen victim to it.
Around the time of Obama’s election, the Democratic Party got infected with the celebrity virus. Seems like anyone who became a household name due to a few good news cycles got a chance to run for something they weren’t qualified for(Wendy Davis, Sandra Fluke), and now even smart Democrats can’t stop talking about how the next candidate needs to be exciting more than they need to be qualified.
Of course, Republicans ruined my making fun of Democrats with the ultimate “hold my beer” moment.
My searches indicate one standard progression up the political ladder (Wendy Davis: elected to city council, elected to state senate, campaign for governor) and one run for a traditional entry-level office (Sandra Fluke: campaign for state senate).
My lifetime goes back to to Eisenhower (though I don’t remember his administration), and the most popular president in my lifetime, during his term, was Reagan. His celebrity got him to be governor of California, just like Arnold. His celebrity and experience got him the next step up.
Regardless of what some of us might wish, celebrity makes a HUGE difference. I think Oprah is viewed with warmth and trust by enough of the people who’ll vote to win the election. But with such an early announcement (or serious rumor) there’s plenty of time for that to change.
I foresee a scenario where she announces that she’s NOT running, then waits to be drafted when the time is right.
It wasn’t that they were unqualified on paper, it’s that they got some notoriety and Democrats clamored to run them for office. They did end up completely lacking the political skills to win and probably weren’t very well qualified regardless of their resumes.
Dominating a couple of news cycles is not something to base a candidacy on.
What level of celebrity was Reagan before being governor of CA? He was an actor but in mostly B movies. He was not anywhere near the level of Arnold S who was in blockbuster movies.
Everybody knew who he was, old and young alike, which wasn’t true for Arnold when he ran for Governor. My parents and grandparents had never heard of Schwarzenegger nor seen any of his movies.
Do you know anything at all about Oprah Winfrey? Clearly not.