Oprah Winfrey has the golden touch. Ask any book publisher — Oprah’s Book Club guarantees a bestseller — or a guy named Barack Obama, whose candidacy for president got a catapult effect once Winfrey told her faithful that Obama was “the one.” Winfrey gave up her daily TV show and her exposure has waned some since, but her influence remains. Her O Magazine still enchants readers and her Oprah’s Favorite Things gets its own category at Amazon.
Now as Oprah conducts an exit interview in the White House with First Lady Michelle Obama, it’s a jarring reminder for many Democrats about Oprah’s relative silence during the 2016 presidential campaign. Even with fellow Chicago native and first female major party candidate Hillary Clinton running against Donald Trump, Oprah didn’t really stump for the Democrats. Where was this powerful woman whose support can move mountains? Oprah came out for Hillary in June and then in October and said “there is really no choice” other than Clinton. But she never put real effort behind Clinton’s campaign, strangely saying she didn’t know if she could have an impact.
