God Intervenes in the Election

My new column in the Sunday Times is up. Money quote:

To be sure, Oprah went out of her way not to diss Clinton, whose support among women and African-Americans has kept Obama in a firm, water-treading second place in the polls, if not in fundraising.

“I think I’ve said this before and it’s true: because I am for Barack does not mean I am against Hillary or anybody else,” Oprah explained. “So the fact that I would endorse Barack Obama, I have not one negative thing to say about Hillary Clinton.”

That’s the classic Oprah touch: never divisive, always positive, but somehow not completely vapid. It’s not easy to pull that off and to retain an appearance of authenticity, but that’s why her talk show remains a phenomenon in the popular culture.

She has an ally among black women for the Obama candidacy. The other woman is not well known yet, but she soon will be. In some ways, she is for Obama in retail politics what Oprah is for him on the national stage. Her name is Michelle Obama, and she is the Illinois senator’s wife.

The rest here.

(Photo: Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty.)