There is no question that Oprah Winfrey is a successful, compassionate and intelligent woman.
In her Golden Globes speech on Sunday night, she did what Donald Trump has failed to do in his entire political career: Deliver a set of uplifting and intelligible remarks.
At this particular time in American history, when so many voters are realizing that electing a man-sized toddler wasn’t such a great idea, it’s easy to latch onto somebody like that.
But Oprah shouldn’t be president. In fact, she shouldn’t even tempt us by running.
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Our collective outrage over Trump’s disastrous, dumpster fire presidency has obviously made us vulnerable. We want out of this national nightmare – and fast. There is extra urgency in light of fresh concerns over Trump’s unstable mental health.
But we shouldn’t allow this unease to push us into making the same type of rash decision that led many people to vote for Trump in the first place, even when he was running against one of the most qualified presidential candidates in history.
This is not to say that Oprah Winfrey wouldn’t make a better president than Donald Trump. She most certainly would. But so, too, would half the people I bumped into on my coffee run this morning.
Our goal in 2020 should be to elect a man or woman who will help the country recover from this troubling political period and repair the extensive damage Trump has done in such a short amount of time – but we shouldn’t use the low bar he has set to choose that person.
Barring a scenario in which Oprah shows a surprising grasp of policy issues and unveils substantive proposals to reinvigorate America’s middle class, stabilize health insurance markets, fight climate change and deal with our foreign adversaries in a responsible way, we should all look elsewhere when choosing the next president.
I love Oprah – we all do! – but we don’t need another celebrity in the White House, even if she does safely clear the bar set by the current commander-in-chief.
We need a president who knows how to keep the lights on; who understands or can at least speak to the problems that affect middle-class Americans; who isn’t provoked by every little cable news criticism; who knows something about the government and the world he or she is supposed to lead.
If the Trump presidency has taught us anything, it’s that politics shouldn’t be modeled after a reality show. We shouldn’t substitute popularity and name recognition for knowledge and expertise. There is something to be said for bland competence, and we need it now more than ever.
It’s time to make the slow, steady work of government boring again.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
