Ms. Winfrey Declines
This story out today about Oprah’s refusal to invite Sarah Palin on her show is very curious. How do we even know about it? Did Oprah actually come out and publicly declare that she will not have the Governor of Alaska on or is this all leaky and second-handed disinformation? Unless Oprah is orchestrating this as a prelude to some grand concession to popularity and sisterhood, I think it’s a bad idea for her business for her to be seen as such a recalcitrant beeyotch. What does it get her? Is Obamessiah putting some pressure on her to not give in? Who knows? But it makes her look like a partisan and that’s not the way to keep a lot of her audience happy.
One would normally say that the host of a show can invite whomever he or she pleases, but the usual rules don’t apply to Oprah. Her favor is a cultural imprimatur. Her appeal is supra-racial. She is an icon. And icons can spot other icons in the making from a hundred miles away.
