Saint Barack Obama has finally figured out a way to not sound like a lightweight when he speaks: let Oprah do the talking.
The star maker herself hit the campaign trail to give His Blessedness a big boost in Iowa. Rumor has it she may purchase the state while there and give it to her next studio audience.
What's notable and/or frightening about this is that it is more than just a publicity ploy. An anointing from Oprah borders on priceless. All she has to do is nod at something and its value triples. Just a few years back we lived in a world without Dr. Phil or Rachael Ray. Then Oprah manufactured them in her basement and sent them out into the world to be rich and ubiquitous.
Even though Obama has spent the last year getting his leg humped by an adoring media he still trails The Madame by almost twenty points in the national polls. He's finally passed her in the Iowa polls though and is looking to increase that lead. He could have gone out and campaigned on his own to achieve this but that way he runs the risk of people actually paying attention to what he's saying now that he's the frontrunner. The last thing Obie needs is scrutiny when he speaks.
No one sells the broad generalities better than St. Obama. He's got the smile to peddle absolutely nothing and make it seem like a good idea.
"Every American should be happy and every day should have sunshine!"
Oprah says that Obama represents a "new direction" for America. Yeah, hard left.
Look at what Obama promises and all you really see is the same Democratic party repackaged socialism in the hands of a better salesman. When he starts talking specifics he comes up with gems like the claim that living overseas as a kid gives him better foreign policy credentials. I used to go to Mexico all the time when I was a kid but that doesn't make me an expert on NAFTA.
His health care plan talks about a partnership between private industry and the federal government which is somehow supposed to facilitate a reduction in paperwork. As we all know, nothing helps streamline any process like the involvement of the federal government. He sounds like he's campaigning to be president of Backwards Land with genius like that.
His plan for Iraq? Pull all the troops out by a specific date so the enemy can plan accordingly then use "the power of the presidency" to make Iraq and its neighbors figure out a way to play nice. There's no mention from Obama yet on whether "the power of the presidency" comes with a decoder ring and secret disguise.
He does promise to make sure that bird flu doesn't get all pandemic on us. I don't know that I've ever emitted as big a sigh of relief as when I read that. Screw terrorism and the economy, I want the next president working on bird flu.
The Oprah trip through Iowa really isn't going to focus the spotlight on Obama. That's probably just fine with him. Now, instead of mulling over the retread positions he's trying to sell as a new direction people at his campaign stops will just keep saying, "Holy crap! It's freakin' Oprah!"
It will now be his task to turn that into "I have no idea what he said but Oprah told me to vote for him."
And it just might work.
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