At last night’s Golden Globes, Oprah Winfrey gave a speech that was, to put it mildly, inspirational. I stood in my living room along with the celebrities in their ballroom and applauded a speech that was filled with something I haven’t felt since election night last November, hope. Oprah was receiving the Cecil B. de Mille award and she could have taken that time to talk about all that she has accomplished in her life. But she didn’t. What she did was inspired the rest of us that things can and will be better.
On twitter, the tweets of #Oprah2020 were everywhere and I can see why. In the age of a president who tweets about haters and seems to be governing just the people who voted for him, Oprah’s message of inclusion was resonating. After that speech, I wanted to vote for Oprah too.
All those heartwarming feelings were short lived, because the media seems to be looking for a cat fight. NBC News tweeted:
And a guest on MTP Daily claimed if Hillary had gave that speech she would be president. It seems pundits can’t help themselves. It seems pundits can’t praise one woman without insulting another. They have to pit women against each other.
Oprah Winfrey’s talk show was on for years. On that couch, Oprah was counselor, teacher and friend. She knows how to talk to people. It’s one of her many, many, gifts but that doesn’t mean every other woman has to be just like her to be successful. No one said if Bernie Sanders had given that speech he would have won the primaries. Pundits don’t constantly ask Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio if they could speak like Donald Trump and I’m sure they don’t want to. Let’s face it, even when men are actually running against each other, they aren’t compared the way women are compared.
I would chalk this up to just more of the irrational hatred of Hillary Clinton that many in the media have. Matt Lauer was notoriously difficult in his interview with Clinton while the questions of Trump were not even softballs questions, they were dust ball questions. When Hillary did give speeches, the media barely covered them. They were too busy broadcasting empty podiums waiting for the next Apprentice – White House episode to start. It’s no coincidence that many of the pundits who went after Hillary so viciously have themselves been caught up in sexual misconduct allegations. Matt Lauer and Mark Halperin are prime examples. But this isn’t just Hillary Derangement Syndrome. It is our patriarchal society treating women as if only one can be at the top at any given time. It’s one of the reason why the people at the Golden Globes were wearing black.
The fact is Hillary inspired 65 million voters. But that doesn’t matter. There was no need to bring Hillary into a discussion about Oprah Winfrey. Let Oprah do what she does and leave Hillary out of it. If you’re looking for mud wrestling, check out Steven Miller’s interview with Jake Tapper. That was a real cat fight.