Oprah 2020? Democrats Swing From Giddy to Skeptical at the Prospect - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/08/us/politics/oprah-president-2020.html
Rebecca Katz, a Democratic strategist from the party’s progressive wing, said it would be a mistake for Democrats to rush toward a magnetic personality rather than hashing out a compelling agenda for the midterm elections and beyond.
“Beating Trump isn’t just about finding the right candidate — we have to show what we stand for,” Ms. Katz said. “Other than ‘we all get a car,’ what will an Oprah presidency look like?” she added, referring to when Ms. Winfrey famously gave a car to every audience member at her show.
Ms. Winfrey’s sudden prominence in the nation’s political imagination speaks, in some respects, to the merging of politics and entertainment in the American mind. She has occupied a singular role in the television industry, parlaying roles as a local news anchor and a talk-show host in Chicago into a media empire that includes her own cable network and a fortune estimated at close to $3 billion. Gallup polling regularly finds Ms. Winfrey among the country’s most admired women, alongside Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama.
Alixandria Lapp, a strategist helping lead Democrats’ effort to retake the House, said the profile of a media mogul outsider would be an uncomfortable match for the party.
“I think it’s highly unlikely that Democrats will ever nominate our own version of Donald Trump — a celebrity with no government experience — because our party tends to respect government and governing experience,” Ms. Lapp said.