An Oprah Winfrey 2020 presidential run is exactly what we need

Oprah Winfrey Golden Globes

Winfrey accepting Cecil B. DeMille Award

(Paul Drinkwater)

I'm intrigued. In fact, I am more than intrigued.

No, I don't know Oprah Winfrey's stance on the economy, healthcare, immigration, foreign policy, public safety/police brutality, the legalization of marijuana, off-shore drilling or many other issues pertinent to the nation's well-being.

But I do know this: #Oprah2020 is no mere hashtag-of-the-moment.

It could happen. For real.

The billionaire media mogul has admitted pondering a presidential run before, even as last as March of last year.

But now, she's "actively considering" a run, according to two sources who spoke with CNN following Winfrey's powerful oration on sexual harassment at the Golden Globes on Monday night, as she accepted the coveted Cecil B. DeMille Award, the first African-American woman to be so honored.

Giving homage to the #metoo movement that was the largely unspoken theme of the evening, she expressed "gratitude to all the women who have endured years of abuse and assault ... because they had mouths to feed, bills to pay and dreams to pursue."

That same night, Steadman Graham, Winfrey's long-time companion, told the Los Angeles Times of a Winfrey presidential run: "It's up to the people. She would absolutely do it."

Well, she should absolutely do it, if she truly wants to do it, if she aspires to be the 46th President of the United States, to be our first female president.

And not just because Twitter (and Democratic leaders) is all atwitter over the possibility. Or because the national networks and other media outlets-- us at AL.com included--would be over the ratings/eyeballs moon should Winfrey run.

Not even because she's actually a self-made billionaire, not one with a million-plus-dollar head start.

Or because she built a successful television network based on inspiring and uplifting people, rather than a television show based on firing and humiliating them.

Or because she donates millions to causes aimed at educating and empowering girls and women worldwide; she didn't create a charitable foundation then not donate to it for almost a decade.

Winfrey, 63, should run because she has every right to do so. Just as other candidates with zero-to-limited political experience have run before her--including fellow businesspeople Ross Perot (1992) Steve Forbes (1996, 2000), Carly Fiorina (2016) and the current White House occupant.

She should run because she has the money, the platform (including almost as many Twitter followers as the first Tweeter), the intelligence (won't even go there right now), and the compassion (nor here) to build a viable candidacy--especially now.

Indeed, Winfrey's popularity will make her a serious contender as soon as she announces she's in the race, if not the leading contender. (You can bet erstwhile 2020 Democractic candidate Joe Biden is already thinking about whether he'd be happy service as vice-president again.)

She should run for all those reasons and one more: candidate Oprah Winfrey will make everyone else who runs for the 2020 presidency step up their game.

She'll make them better.

She'll make them better because she'll be well prepared to articulate her political positions thoughtfully and eloquently, and she'll do so in a manner that could make everyone else on stage look like background extras in an Oprah Winfrey Production. They'll have to know their lines and deliver.

She'll make them better because, unlike 99.9 percent of the politicians most likely to run, Winfrey, born to a single mother in rural Kosciusko, Mississippi, knows just about everyone's pain--whether they're poor, sexually assault victims, female or black. Best of luck to the other candidates with this one.

She'll make them better, too, because more people will watch--even more so than they did when the TV-star-whom-shall-not-be-named tossed his blonde bouffant into the presidential ring. Her presence will put a brighter-than-usual spotlight on a process that is most often ignored until the pretenders have been weeded from the contenders.

Political positions aside, Winfrey will likely also do well in the South, maybe surprisingly so. Even in Alabama.

In her speech Monday, she saluted two Alabama women: one known as an iconic civil-rights figure, the other a tragic figure whose sacrifice has only recently received new light.

The latter is Recy Taylor, "a name I know," Winfrey said, "and I think you should know too."

In 1944, Taylor was abducted by six white men as she walked home from church in Abbeville. She was raped, and left blindfolded on the side of the road, as Winfrey shared in her speech. Her attackers were never prosecuted. Taylor died on December 29, at the age of 97.

The crime drew national attention, in part due to the efforts of a young woman who was one of the investigators from the NAACP: Rosa Parks, the other Alabamian Winfrey honored on Monday.

It's well known now that African American voters--and black women, in particular--helped push Democrat Doug Jones to victory last month in the December 12 special U.S. Senate election by voting in historic numbers and overwhelmingly for Jones.

Imagine if the name "Oprah Winfrey" is on the ballot.

She's not perfect, of course. No candidate has ever been or will be.

If she runs, she'll no doubt be vetted and scrutinized from the onset, particularly her views on the aforementioned issues that matter most to Americans.

She may decide the dissection isn't worth it, that the prospect of revealing the content behind the character(s) she displays so easily on the big and small screens is too much to bear.

I doubt that, though.

On Monday, Winfrey shared this: "I've interviewed and portrayed people who withstood some of the ugliest things life can throw at you. The one quality all of them seemed to share is an ability to maintain hope for a brighter morning, even during our darkest nights."

We are living some of our darkest nights--so run, Oprah, run.

Roy S. Johnson's column appears in The Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Register and AL.com. Hit me up at rjohnson@al.com and follow me at twitter.com/roysj.

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