Presidency is not for celebrities
By Jessica Berget, Opinions Editor
Ever since the Golden Globe awards show aired last week, everyone has Oprah Winfrey on their minds—specifically, some have her in mind for the next presidential candidate of 2020. Her inspirational speech after winning the Cecil B. De Mille award was enough to win the hearts and votes of any American who watched her accept the award, but is giving a good speech all that it really takes to run a country?
Presidency is not a place for celebrities, especially if they have no prior experience in politics, no matter how well-informed or well-intentioned they may be.
It seems when any well-liked celebrity gives a speech or makes some commentary about our society, people go nuts, even going as far as suggesting that they run for presidency. It happened to Tom Hanks, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Stephen Colbert, to name a few. Funnily enough, these same celebrities have been rumoured to also be running for the 2020 election. Stephen Colbert even had plans to run for the 2008 election, which ended in him eventually abandoning these plans—however, as this was done in-character as the Republican pundit “Rev. Sir Dr. Stephen T. Mos Def Colbert D.F.A., Heavyweight Champion of the World,” it’s very likely that this was meant to be a joke.
For some reason, people think that TV show hosts and actors have what it takes to be president. Based on what? Giving an inspiring speech? Being the President of the United States takes a whole lot more than just giving a good speech at a film and television festival, and as successful as Oprah is, she is no exception.
As much as I would like to see a Black woman become POTUS, I don’t believe another rich, popular celebrity is the person to be rooting for. Especially since a rich, popular celebrity is already in office and, in my opinion, doing a pretty shit job at it.
Besides having an incredibly successful career in television and film, being well-liked by millions, and being so famous you don’t even have to say her last name, Oprah has literally no political experience, which is a serious problem if she were to ever actually run for office. That’s not to say I have absolutely no faith in Oprah; she does maintain progressive policies and even helped lobby for the National Child Protection Act, creating a database of known abusers, which eventually became known as the “Oprah Bill.” With a résumé as impressive as hers, it’s possible she does have a future in politics, but in a presidency? I don’t think so. At least, not without a little experience first.
