Oprah's Business Savvy and Political Folly

You can count me among the many shocked observers when I saw a headline today that proclaimed:

"Oprah confirms OWN layoffs necessary for 'long term' success".

Now, don't get me wrong - I have never been a customer of her very successful offerings, but I have always admired her as one of the greatest capitalists in the history of the United States and, to go further, even in the entire history of the world.

Here is a woman who emerged from a poor upbringing, both economic and socially, YET, she built a media empire on her keen business acumen as she figured out how to draw viewers to her programming and monetize it.  It is a true Horatio Alger story.  Anybody who does not admire her business success cannot be a believer in Free Market Capitalism.

Oprah is quoted in the story as stating:  "It is difficult to make tough business decisions that affect people’s lives but the economics of a start-up cable network just don’t work with the cost structure that was in place."  Like any CEO running a business, she understood the dynamics of the economic environment and made the tough decisions to ensure long term viability.

My shock derives from trying to reconcile her ability to navigate her personal business life and her undying support for Barack Obama.  One could say that her endorsement of Obama over Hillary Clinton in 2008 was the straw that broke Hillary's back and turned Oprah into the king maker.  Now, if Oprah understands that tightening the belt and restructuring is necessary when the economics call for it, how can she still support a person who continues to spend, spend, spend to try to improve his business - the United States economy.

If Oprah were to be consistent, she would have tripled her workforce, not cut it.  Barack Obama has already spent in 3 years, what George W Bush spent in 8 years, while his business has only worsened.  Let's be clear - this is not an endorsement of W's spending.  Meanwhile, Oprah continues to support the worst CEO to ever run the United States government.

Maybe the difference for Oprah is that she had no interest in pissing away her personal wealth, whereas, Obama is only pissing away our money, our children's money, our children's children's money and their children's money.  Am I really shocked?  Not really.  For wealthy liberals, the historic myth of Barack Obama trumps any sane and objective idea of accountability.

The rest of us can eat cake.  That is, until Michelle takes that away from us too!