Although plenty of voices seem convinced that delivering a single address automatically positions Oprah for the presidency (with Dr. Oz presumably waiting in the wings as Surgeon General, plus the slickest sales pitch ever for toppling foreign governments on shaky grounds), the energetic, younger Warren-Sanders faction within the Democratic Party is decidedly unmoved by the idea.
As Justice Democrats director Corbin Trent explains, "From our perspective as an organization, part of what we're trying to do is create paths to high office that don't run through the billionaire class. One billionaire president in a decade is going to be plenty for us."
Oprah's fortune is undeniably enormous, yet her political convictions are far murkier. Apart from her vocal championing of Obama and lukewarm backing of Clinton, she appears to favor tighter gun regulations, more humane immigration rules, full L.G.B.T.Q. protections, and a free press—standard fare for any 21st-century Democrat. Her position on single-payer healthcare, a defining litmus test for the left, remains a wide-open question, leaving Bernie loyalists with the tiniest sliver of hope. "If Oprah were to use her financial independence to be really politically independent, O.K., maybe," said Briahna Joy Gray, a lawyer and contributing editor at Current Affairs. "But if she's going to be a typical centrist candidate, she doesn't excite me any more than Cory Booker or Joe Biden or Kamala Harris do. Bernie Sanders was independent because he actually inspired people to give him $27 donations. That's something we should be infinitely more excited about and proud of than hoping for a benevolent billionaire to do the right thing and save us all."
"It All Depends on What Oprah Does": Why Bernie Sanders Democrats Are Raining on the Oprah Parade [Chris Smith/Vanity Fair]
(Image credits: Donkey Hotey, CC-BY; Annika Laas, CC-BY-SA)
Whistleblower and torture survivor Chelsea Manning has submitted paperwork to mount a challenge against Senator Benjamin L. Cardin in the 2018 midterm elections.
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