(No horn-toot-o.)
Oprah threw her endorsement behind behind Barack Obama, and her ironclad popularity has taken a dip for doing so, according to Marjorie Valbrun over at The Root.
A widely cited article in The Politico last week tracked several polls over the past 20 years showing Oprah with consistently high favorability rankings – At one time 78 percent of Americans held a favorable opinion of her and in one survey she ranked second only to Mother Theresa – until she endorsed and campaigned for Obama.
“Ten days after she went on the stump for Obama, Oprah’s favorability ratings dropped to 55 percent, the lowest level of favorability ever registered for Oprah in opinion surveys,” the article states. “Oprah’s negatives also spiked, with one in three respondents (33 percent) reporting unfavorable impressions of her.”
So what is happening?
If some white people are rethinking their feelings for Oprah and Obama, it’s because those people’s unrealistic expectations of the two have been betrayed. Oprah and Obama were idealized blacks. They were supposed to be above reproach, neutral on all matters of race, unencumbered by the tiresome legacy of American race relations, colorblind in their politics. They were not supposed to associate with people like Jeremiah Wright, let alone consider them friends.
They were supposed to reflect blackness in the way that made white people comfortable, a blackness that lacked any hint of anger, resentment, or dare we say it, “bitterness.” They were also supposed to pretend their blackness didn’t matter. Oprah could be the black girlfriend who white women felt good about themselves for having, Obama could be the black candidate they felt good for supporting. …
Whites have long felt comfortable with black people entertaining them. Politics is not entertainment – at least not intentionally. Still, it’s hard not to wonder if the massive white crowds that came out for Obama’s speeches early on weren’t also seeing him as some kind of eloquent performer, and now it’s sinking in that Obama really is running for president and not for American Idol, and that he comes, like all Americans, with some racial baggage. Could this be why so many white people are now asking, more than a year after Obama launched his campaign, if they can really trust him and basing those doubts not on his political record but on the speeches of his minister?
Also, that troubling white-women-first argument pops up again.
If Oprah’s troubles are, indeed, somehow linked to Obama — and not merely to Ellen DeGeneres’ hard-earned hot streak — it’s a sad statement on race in America. Oprah’s not seeking keys to the White House. Can the country only stand one transcendent black person at a time? A sampling of recent blog posts suggests that something bigger than Ellen is at play:
“She spent her entire career promoting women, yet for the first time in history, a woman is running for prez, and she rejects Hillary for a man ,” said another reader. “…Oprah is a fraud. I lost all respect for her.”
“Oprah is a backstabber in more ways than one. So are the rest of the black people who turned their backs on Hillary……”
“The support of white women made Oprah her billions. While she has every right to vote and campaign for whomever she wants, she stabbed all women in the back. She used her clout against the first viable white woman. Hope she sinks into oblivion. I will never forget.”
Perhaps the last comment was the most telling. It reflects the patronizing attitude that white support should be appreciated and met with unquestioning loyalty and gratitude by blacks who receive it.
Michelle Obama hasn’t always been proud of the way this country deals with race. Gee, Iwonder why?
