Slow Your Roll

So Oprah was given an award last night at the Golden Globes.  She gave a speech that is apparently a big thing today.  As a person who does some public speaking, that is a pretty good sermon.  She does what Oprah does so well: spins emotional stories delivered with all the earnestness you can possibly handle.  Little girl Oprah watching Sidney Poitier get the same award as her mother comes in from the brutal soul sucking job she had as a cleaning lady. The story of a black woman who was raped by white men who never faced justice despite the best efforts of none other than Rosa Parks.  I admit, I got choked up several times during that speech, and I am not an Oprah true believer.
But in true Interweb fashion there is all sorts of reaction this morning that inspires a "please sweet Lord no!" The most terrifying of which is people who think that the Big O ought to run for president in 2020.  Part of me thinks that would serve the people who voted for Trump right, but most of me thinks that we have had all of the TV personality presidents we actually need. Reagan, who once co-starred with a chimpanzee, was bad enough, but now we have Mr. "You're Fired!" running the show.  This has got to stop, and we need to put the government back in the hands of people who actually know about legislation and governing.  Look, I have no love for career politicians, I actually think the imposition of real term limits on both houses of Congress would be a pretty darn good idea. I would, however, really like it if the people we elected were actually skilled in the art of legislation and had the ability to govern for the common good.  I don't see much of that now, but just giving up and voting for whatever character sells the best lies just isn't a very good strategy in the long term.
I like Ellen Degeneres, Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart a lot, but I don't want any of them to run for President, because despite the last year I happen to believe that being President is a serious thing that should only be taken up by serious people.  Whatever other problems I might have with Donald the thing that I can't get away from, even when he does things I happen to think are OK or at least not horrible, is that I don't think he is quite sincere about much of anything.  I think he can fake it to sell things, I think he can put on a mask of sincerity, but it seems to change all too quickly as soon as exigent circumstances press a button.
Oprah gave a good speech to a very sympathetic and supportive audience.  She rounded the bases in a glorious slow trot because she knew it was a home run.  And she reminded us again that she is the epitome of the American dream, rising from a poor childhood to become one of the richest and most powerful people in showbiz.  She is an example of how a black woman can make it in this country even though the deck is really stacked against her... and I really hope she doesn't run for president.  Because she would probably win. My confidence in the American system and the electorate is not at an all time high, and as you may have discerned, if you have read these ramblings of late, I really want a grown up lawmaker back in charge.  Oprah may be a different kind of salesperson than Donald, but a salesperson she is.  I may agree with her, like her, be moved by her speeches, I might even admit that, as a figurehead and a cultural totem, she might make a good Chief Executive.  But, I really want us to have a President who is more than a mascot for our delusions.
We need to stop voting for the best salesperson and start voting for the best states-people.  This is a needful thing up and down the ballot.  I have come to believe that if we want better representation and governance then we the people need to stop voting with our ids (and no that is not a reference to voter ID, I'm talking about the Freudian personality construct).  We go in too easily for the people who make the best speeches and promise the moon.  We go in too easily for people who tell us what we want to hear. Oprah is the queen of that, whether it is the famous giveaways or the miracle diets, she is undeniably the ruler of the entertainment world, and increasingly the entertainment world is the only world many people care about.