Jack & Jill Politics

OK so the real questions in my mind at this point is:

When will Obama unleash the ultimate endorsement once more?

When will the nuclear weapon of surrogates come forward to encourage – nay, order Americans to vote for Barack Obama?

Where is Oprah?

So far, he’s been keeping her on the sidelines. Oprah and Gayle came to the Democratic National Convention, but they was just stylin’ and profilin’. They didn’t actually DO anything. Which I imagine is by design, right?

Rather breathless, panting rumors are beginning to swirl around the world, including the pink-tinged London Financial Times and the Chicago Tribune of what position Oprah might play in an Obama administration. Ambassador Oprah, anyone?

Also recently, she’s been helping to raise big money. Oprah somewhat quietly (if that’s even possible for her) headlined an event in Chicago on Oct 10 that featured both Bidens and both Obamas with attendees paying $2500 a seat:

Winfrey made some high-profile appearances for Obama during the Democratic primary, but she has not been as visible during the general election campaign.

Heavy security was in evidence in the second-floor lobby of the Sheraton Hotel on Columbus Drive, where an Obama-Biden T-shirt kiosk drew a big knot of people. There were guards on the doors, with metal detectors used for those entering the main room. Chicago police with dogs walked through the crowds of people wearing blue or red event cards.

Winfrey spoke first in the meeting room, where the media was not allowed for her appearance, followed by Joe Biden and then Michelle Obama.

While Winfrey’s comments inside the fundraiser were private, one woman who attended took notes from what Winfrey said.

[…]

“We’re not in the mood to be deceived again,” Winfrey said, according to the woman. “A leader has risen up among us.”

Winfrey talked about this being a marathon and the last 6 miles are the hardest, and we’re in the last 6 miles of this campaign, the woman said.

Valerie Jarrett, an Obama senior adviser, made some comments to reporters outside the meeting room.

There are “more than a thousand” women at this event, many from out-of-state, including battleground states of New Hampshire, California and Alaska, Jarrett said. About $2 million was hoped to be raised.

There were those including Time Magazine who said that her endorsement during the primaries wouldn’t amount to much. Fools. These are people who do not understand or sufficiently fear the magical omnipotence of Oprah. From WaPo:

A December rally in South Carolina was moved to a football stadium to accommodate the 29,000 who came to hear Winfrey and Obama, according to the campaign’s estimate, and a similar appearance in New Hampshire drew 8,500 people. The Obama campaign said that these appearances yielded 10,000 new volunteers. Earlier this summer, Craig Garthwaite and Timothy Moore, two economists at the University of Maryland who have studied the Winfrey effect, wrote that her endorsement led to approximately 1 million additional votes for Obama in the primaries and caucuses, a conclusion they reached in part by doing a county-by-county analysis of sales of Oprah’s Book Club selections and subscriptions to O: The Oprah Magazine.

1 million votes for Obama over Clinton. That’s power. In this race, Oprah could almost single-handedly make a difference on whether some battleground states go blue this year. You tellin’ me Obama ain’t got plans for Miss Lady? Oprah is more than just a media figure – she’s one of the few almost unimpeachable moral leaders the country still has. The question in my mind is why we’re not seeing her yet? Is the Obama campaign waiting until a critical moment, a climax, Mon Nov 3? Or is Oprah concerned that she’s pushed her viewers too hard and fears eroding authority & audience? We’ll know soon enough.