Well, I really think he shatters the myth of white supremacy once and for all. – US Congressman Charlie Rangel when asked what he thought of President Bush
GUANGXI, China – One of the big news in the state-controlled media of China is the announcement of New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton that she’s gunning for the 2008 US presidency, which will be historic if she wins, making her the first-ever woman leader of the world’s only remaining superpower. I’ve extolled before Hillary and predicted that she is destined to become a future US president.
By the way, even here in this idyllic riverside resort town of Yangshuo, the Clintons are famous and well-loved because of their high-profile July 2, 1998 visit here, which turned this agricultural laid-back area into a tourist mecca. In the small barrio of Fuli, which has only 1,000 people and mostly doing traditional Chinese arts and crafts, Bill Clinton described their folding fans before CNN and global media as "natural air-conditioners." He even visited rural fishermen here, and thanks to him, villagers now charge a small entrance fee for tourists like me wanting to enter their barrio to observe their ancient fishing rites.
Despite the fact that my values and socio-economic ideals are basically Republican if I were an American citizen, I would make an exception of Hillary and vote for her even if she’s a liberal Democrat. I’ve always found smart and assertive ladies to be sexy. Also, it’s a package deal – if Hillary wins, and I bet a million pepperoni pizzas that she will win big, the USA will get a fantastic and charismatic First Gentleman in the person of the smooth-talking Bill Clinton.
Now enough of the premature electioneering in favor of Hillary, since the point of this column is that the Democratic Party should invite into their fold and nominate TV star, self-made tycoon and pop icon Oprah Winfrey as presidential candidate to challenge Hillary. Sorry, Hillary, although I like you and am certain you are headed for election victory, my first choice for the next US president is Oprah.
Not only will Oprah break the so-called glass ceiling, becoming the first ever woman and the first from the formerly oppressed/enslaved black minority to become USA president, an Oprah presidency can win back global credibility and respect for the world’s wealthiest nation after the numerous fumbling mistakes of the Texas cowboy President George "Dubya" Bush in Iraq and other issues. The Yale/Harvard-educated Dubya is a colossal conundrum, highly-educated like many of our politicos here in our republic, but horribly stupid in innumerable ways. I’d rather vote for a street-smart, good-hearted and honest Oprah.
After the Vietnam war errors of Presi-dent Johnson, the Watergate fiasco of President Richard Nixon, the bor-ing presidency of Gerald Ford, the indecisive and inefficient presidency of Jimmy Carter, it was only Ronald Wilson Reagan who briefly restored some glory and prestige to America internationally. The two Bush presidents were not fantastic, and Bill Clinton is unfortunately more well-known for his alleged marital indiscretions despite his good work as a hardworking leader. The US and the world needs a strong and credible American president, not another wimp or warmonger.
More than any other time in human history, we need a strong, respected, credible, idealistic and honest US president like Oprah Winfrey today to help lead our overpopulated, excessively polluted, war-stricken, terrorism-wracked and overly materialistic world toward more common sense, civility, compassion, good cheer and optimism.
Without a family and with her self-made wealth, Oprah is in a unique position not only to push selfless socio-civic causes and promote culture (writers like me would write books because she encourages reading despite her being the undisputed queen of TV), I’m sure she will also campaign to stop the insidious global plague of smoking (in one episode she showed X-ray images of a smoker’s dirty lungs in contrast to a non-smoker’s clean, healthy lungs).
One of the quotes I like most from Oprah is "What I know for sure is that what you give comes back to you."
I can imagine Oprah flying to the Middle East to urge the Palestinians and Arabs to make peace with Israel finally. Or flying to Sudan to stop the bloody atrocities there and other places in Africa where her ancestors came from. Or jet-setting to North Korea and cajoling North Korea’s crazed despot Kim Jong-Il to give up his nuclear-bombs pranks in exchange for an exclusive primetime TV interview. How could radicals like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez or even terrorist leader Osama bin Laden now attack the USA as the so-called "great Satan," when billions of people respect and admire President Oprah as an avenging angel for social justice and for the downtrodden with her numerous charities?
Hillary will be excellent as the next US president to rectify the errors of Dubya Bush, but I’m afraid the Republicans will fight against her nonstop over deep-seated ideological issues. However, Oprah can be the unifying FPJ of the USA who will boost American morale and their well-known idealism, and thus help make our world a much better and more exciting place.
Societies and the world need leaders who have guts, common sense and above all, moral integrity. The qualifications for true leadership are not high education, pedigree, glib tongue or voluminous promises.
Oprah Winfrey once told Good Housekeeping magazine something which our late mother once taught me as a kid and which many of our politicos fail to realize as very important. She said: "Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not."
Sorry, Madame Hillary, and my sincere apologies to the apolitical Oprah Winfrey, but I am writing this column here in this the best English-language newspaper in Asia to launch a petition for a real and serious "Oprah for US President" movement so that we can help change world history now.