Speaking at the NBR gala in New York, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and Patty Jenkins praised Oprah Winfrey's Golden Globe Awards speech and speculated on the prospect of Hanks being her VP if she ran for the presidency. (Jan. 10) AP
According to her best friend, Oprah Winfrey is not actively considering running for president, but if that changes, director Steven Spielberg is ready with an endorsement. And he's serious.
“I think Oprah Winfrey would make an absolutely brilliant president,” the director, who's in London promoting The Post, told Britain's The Guardian newspaper. “If she declares, I will back her.”
He says she'd be able to walk the walk when it comes to unifying a highly polarized electorate.
“She’s been on the air for 35 years with all kinds of social outreach, building bridges between different ideologies and different points of view," he told the newspaper.
Spielberg also believes Winfrey, whom he says is "crackerjack on the money on women's issues," could be an "ambassador of empathy."
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“I think we need a mindful, empathetic human being in the White House who understands people and puts people ahead of their own ideas of power and self-aggrandizement," he argued, "and I think Oprah has already proved her capacity for selflessness.”
Asked if she had the kind of experience necessary for the job, he retorted, "Does our current president?" He added, “I think she’ll learn on the job the same way Bill Clinton learned – a former governor of Arkansas – or Barack Obama, a junior senator, learned on the job. I’d much rather go for someone like Oprah Winfrey than a career politician.”
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