Can Oprah realistically be a serious presidential candidate if she wanted to?

[iamgine]

Or would she get destroyed by other candidates?

[KevinNYC]

Or would she get destroyed by other candidates?
Using today's candidates, how you would define what a serious presidential candidate is?

[DeuceWallaces]

Using today's candidates, how you would define what a serious presidential candidate is?

Yeah, if she wasn't black she could run GOP.

[Akrazotile]

Yeah, if she wasn't black she could run GOP.

What does her race have to do with running on a GOP ticket? Bobby Jindal is an Indian governer of a very red state. Hermain Cain led in the GOP presidential polls at one point as a black candidate. Ted Cruz is a hispanic with many white supporters.

Republicans would elect someone of ANY background with a republican agenda in a heartbeat. Of course there would be a portion of voters with white supremacist principles that would oppose it, but the vast majority of what compels republican voters is christianity and/or conservativism and they dont give a rats ass what color the person protecting those values is.

The idea that republicans in general wont support a viable minority candidate is a myth. Granted, that doesnt mean a lot of these people would want their home communities filling up with minorities, but for people everywhere, throughout history, values/lifestyle come first when it comes to prejudice. Race/gender/etc is always secondary. If a candidate of any background can viably fight for their values in Washington, they'll get the vote.

What youre saying is akin to saying rich, Harvard educated lawyers cant get the working man's Democratic vote just bc Dems love class warfare and hate mongering the wealthy. But clearly weve seen it doesnt work that way.

[Droid101]

What does her race have to do with running on a GOP ticket? Bobby Jindal is an Indian governer of a very red state.
:roll:

Dude's real name is Piyush and refuses to use it. Changed it to Bobby to get the racist vote.

[IcanzIIravor]

Or would she get destroyed by other candidates?

She would get destroyed. There is no one in this day and age who can win the White House without having some experience as a governor or a senator right now. You need to build some deep pocketed alliance that goes beyond just money.

[Akrazotile]

:roll:

Dude's real name is Piyush and refuses to use it. Changed it to Bobby to get the racist vote.


Everyone knows he is Indian, Droid.

"Piyush" could be a potential projection of a different set of values to people who hear his name and arent familiar with him. I guarantee if he had pursued Democratic nominations he'd do the exact same thing. Shucks, I reckon it aint too diff'rent than ol Hillary there changin' up her accent dependin on who she talkin to.

All people are ethnocentric to varying degrees. All politicians posture themselves to accommodate that. Has nothing to do with republican or democrat.

[Akrazotile]

She would get destroyed. There is no one in this day and age who can win the White House without having some experience as a governor or a senator right now. You need to build some deep pocketed alliance that goes beyond just money.


And the thing about Oprah specifically is that her opponents would break out endless amounts of video of her crying and weeping on camera every week (since that was basically her job) and portray her as waaaay too emotional and sentimental to be a commander in chief.

Whether there's truth to that or not I dont know, but the rhetoric would be difficult to overcome.

[DeuceWallaces]

What does her race have to do with running on a GOP ticket? Bobby Jindal is an Indian governer of a very red state. Hermain Cain led in the GOP presidential polls at one point as a black candidate. Ted Cruz is a hispanic with many white supporters.

Republicans would elect someone of ANY background with a republican agenda in a heartbeat. Of course there would be a portion of voters with white supremacist principles that would oppose it, but the vast majority of what compels republican voters is christianity and/or conservativism and they dont give a rats ass what color the person protecting those values is.

The idea that republicans in general wont support a viable minority candidate is a myth. Granted, that doesnt mean a lot of these people would want their home communities filling up with minorities, but for people everywhere, throughout history, values/lifestyle come first when it comes to prejudice. Race/gender/etc is always secondary. If a candidate of any background can viably fight for their values in Washington, they'll get the vote.

What youre saying is akin to saying rich, Harvard educated lawyers cant get the working man's Democratic vote just bc Dems love class warfare and hate mongering the wealthy. But clearly weve seen it doesnt work that way.

It has everything to do with her not being elected. Black candidates can't make it past the 1st primary in the GOP.

[ISHGoat]

I would never vote for a woman, much less a black woman.

for all I know, shes only there to meet some racial quota so the parties dont seem racist.

[ace23]

I would never vote for a woman, much less a black woman.

for all I know, shes only there to meet some racial quota so the parties dont seem racist.
These sentences go great together.

[9erempiree]

She has no chance based on the show and someone has mentioned she would be an emotional wreck to be president.

Lets not all of a sudden name drop candidates because of Trump. Trump would be the perfect President and the exception to all others.

[KNOW1EDGE]

I don't think she'd have any interest in running for president.

If she did, I would not vote for her.

[TripleA]

I don't think she'd have any interest in running for president.

If she did, I would not vote for her.

Same here. I think the qualities that made her a great talk show host make her not a good candidate for politics.

[IcanzIIravor]

These sentences go great together.

I take it you think Angela Merkel sucks as Chancellor of Germany?

[NumberSix]

:roll:

Dude's real name is Piyush and refuses to use it. Changed it to Bobby to get the racist vote.
So then, they're NOT racist, right? They're.... name-ist.

[KevinNYC]

Oprah would make a quite formidable political candidate if she ever chose to run and had a good political chief behind her*

She has money, name recognition and favorability ratings that most candidates can only dream of. She's experienced with crowds and connects with people in a way that nobody in the current field can touch.

Her favorability ratings were as high 78% once. Those would come down significantly once she got into politics, but that's still a net favorable rating well over the 50. As a comparison, right now the two leading Republican contenders have a net favorable rating of -3 and -24.
http://content.gallup.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Production/Cms/POLL/t6irjwd8fkymig8m0zztsa.png Rubio and Carson have postiive net favorables, but most people don't know enough about them to form an opinion.

If you're a political strategist, how do you run against her? Do you go negative? Going negative against her has the very real chance of boomeranging to drive up your own negatives.



*If Karl Rove and Oprah has the same political philosophy and he was managing her run, we'd be saying President Winfrey pretty soon.

I don't think she will ever do it, but she would be a very formidable candidate.

[Akrazotile]

Oprah would make a quite formidable political candidate if she ever chose to run and had a good political chief behind her*

She has money, name recognition and favorability ratings that most candidates can only dream of. She's experienced with crowds and connects with people in a way that nobody in the current field can touch.

Her favorability ratings were as high 78% once. Those would come down significantly once she got into politics, but that's still a net favorable rating well over the 50. As a comparison, right now the two leading Republican contenders have a net favorable rating of -3 and -24.
http://content.gallup.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Production/Cms/POLL/t6irjwd8fkymig8m0zztsa.png Rubio and Carson have postiive net favorables, but most people don't know enough about them to form an opinion.

If you're a political strategist, how do you run against her? Do you go negative? Going negative against her has the very real chance of boomeranging to drive up your own negatives.



*If Karl Rove and Oprah has the same political philosophy and he was managing her run, we'd be saying President Winfrey pretty soon.

I don't think she will ever do it, but she would be a very formidable candidate.



She has no political experience whatsoever. Theres no evidence that I'm aware of that she even has great political knowledge.

You want complex, international policy decisions being spearheaded by Oprah??

People know her as the woman who made a career crying and saying "there, there" to troubled people on television. I have no doubt shes smart, but she has no experience and I dont know that she has political acumen.

Then again, people in America generally just vote based on party anyway. If you stick her with a Dem nom and there's no Republican candidate that can get people to the polls, who knows, maybe Oprah could win. Not that it says anything about Oprah as a candidate, just the lazy voting tendencies of America.

[outbreak]

Can't stand Oprah and her back flipping and endorse people purely on current popular opinion.

[NumberSix]

She has no political experience whatsoever. Theres no evidence that I'm aware of that she even has great political knowledge.

You want complex, international policy decisions being spearheaded by Oprah??

People know her as the woman who made a career crying and saying "there, there" to troubled people on television. I have no doubt shes smart, but she has no experience and I dont know that she has political acumen.

Then again, people in America generally just vote based on party anyway. If you stick her with a Dem nom and there's no Republican candidate that can get people to the polls, who knows, maybe Oprah could win. Not that it says anything about Oprah as a candidate, just the lazy voting tendencies of America.
Of course. President Oprah, Vice President Ricki Lake. Secretary of State Jerry Springer.

[KevinNYC]

She has no political experience whatsoever. Theres no evidence that I'm aware of that she even has great political knowledge.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150227135453-cpac-2015-donald-trump-exlarge-169.jpg

People know her as the woman who made a career crying and saying "there, there" to troubled people on television. I have no doubt shes smart, but she has no experience and I dont know that she has political acumen.

Then again, people in America generally just vote based on party anyway. If you stick her with a Dem nom and there's no Republican candidate that can get people to the polls, who knows, maybe Oprah could win. Not that it says anything about Oprah as a candidate, just the lazy voting tendencies of America.

http://www.gstatic.com/tv/thumb/dvdboxart/38572/p38572_d_v7_aa.jpg

http://media-3.web.britannica.com/eb-media/92/87992-004-9307AAD1.jpg

[Akrazotile]

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150227135453-cpac-2015-donald-trump-exlarge-169.jpg


http://www.gstatic.com/tv/thumb/dvdboxart/38572/p38572_d_v7_aa.jpg

http://media-3.web.britannica.com/eb-media/92/87992-004-9307AAD1.jpg


Exactly.

But I hope you arent pretending to believe Reagan went straight from acting to the presidency. It's a completely false equivalency to an Oprah candidacy.

[NumberSix]

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150227135453-cpac-2015-donald-trump-exlarge-169.jpg


http://www.gstatic.com/tv/thumb/dvdboxart/38572/p38572_d_v7_aa.jpg

http://media-3.web.britannica.com/eb-media/92/87992-004-9307AAD1.jpg
Ronald Reagan was the governor of California. And at least Trump was a businessman. At that, he's still a clown candidate.

I don't get this weird thing people do with Oprah. For some reason, she's given this prestige that her other talk show host peers aren't. Is it just that she's the one that made the most money? :confusedshrug:

I mean, can you imagine if somebody suggested Maury Povich for president? Would you be able to contain your laughter? "Well, he does have a lot of experience in telling people they aren't the father".

[Akrazotile]

Ronald Reagan was the governor of California. And at least Trump was a businessman. At that, he's still a clown candidate.

I don't get this weird thing people do with Oprah. For some reason, she's given this prestige that her other talk show host peers aren't. Is it just that she's the one that made the most money? :confusedshrug:

I mean, can you imagine if somebody suggested Maury Povich for president? Would you be able to contain your laughter? "Well, he does have a lot of experience in telling people they aren't the father".


This would probably earn him overwhelming support in some circles.

[RightToCensor]

I'd rather vote for Magic Johnson than Oprah and Trump

[KevinNYC]

Exactly.

But I hope you arent pretending to believe Reagan went straight from acting to the presidency. It's a completely false equivalency to an Oprah candidacy.What's Trump's political experience and political knowledge? What was Arnold's?
The point was people can change what they are known for. And candidates get a ton of help. They can get political tutors like Reagan did when he worked for GE. Condoleeza Rice got her job in the White House because she was tutoring W. Bush is foreign policy.


And there's nothing about this
Can Oprah realistically be a serious presidential candidate if she wanted to?

that says it has to happen tomorrow. If she wanted to and if she wanted to be serious, yes, she could easily build a team, get help, fill in her gaps and make a serious run, but that would also require work.

I mean Sarah Palin was a candidate for Vice President just a few short years ago, (Her tutors found out she didn't know why there was a North Korea and a South Korea), it's not like successful politicians are only the wisest, wonkiest know-it-alls. Theater is a big part of the job especially when campaigning