The mainstream media is now trying to figure out what is going on with Oprah Winfrey. Many have said that she is losing the Midas touch with a series of missteps, including the fallout from her endorsement of Barack Obama. I came across this article on the Chicago Sun Times website written by columnist Bob Zwecker, detailing her missteps. Read “The Missteps of Oprah” and be the judge of what Ms. O has been experiencing.
I have always felt that the people who had an issue with Oprah endorsing Barack Obama were hypocritical. The woman is free to support whoever she wants. It has nothing to do with her role as a talk show host. If she had supported Hillary Clinton, I believe many of the women who complained wouldn’t have taken offense to her actions, making it all the more hypocritical. A Gallup poll conducted in October, shortly after Ms. Winfrey announced her support of Mr. Obama, found that her “favorable” rating fell by eight percentage points, to 66 percent, from 74 percent in January 2007; her “unfavorable” mark jumped by more than half, to 26 percent from 17 percent. That’s a shame because if she had supported Hillary Clinton, these people would be happy, but then she would run the risk of blacks calling her a sell-out.
The average audience for “The Oprah Winfrey Show” has fallen nearly seven percent this year, according to Nielsen Media Research — its third straight year of decline. But the show, according to Robert Madden, a senior executive vice president at CBS Television Distribution, which oversees the syndication of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “ has been the No. 1 talk show for 471 consecutive weeks.” “That’s a good barometer if her show is in trouble or not, and obviously if you’re No. 1, you’re not in trouble.” I agree wholeheartedly with his statements. The mainstream media is hellbent on finding a reason why Oprah’s numbers are falling and they want to create a correlation between her endorsement of Barack Obama as the main reason why. Just my thoughts, you be the judge……
Filed under: Barack Obama, Gallup Polls, Oprah Winfrey, Ratings
Black Political Thought 