Word: oprahism
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...think the candidates would be lining up at our doors to showcase their policies on health care, education, Social Security. But you'd be wrong. Instead of crunching our numbers, the candidates are kissing our babies. They're wearing earth tones and soft pastel ties. They're going on "Oprah," for God's sake...
...makes sense, of course, that the candidates would fall over themselves to appear onscreen with the most powerful woman in America. And in the past week, both Gore and Bush have appeared on the spectacularly popular daytime talk show; each sat down with Oprah herself for 60 minutes of free television time. I sat down to watch the shows, hoping against hope for some substance, a little bit of weight...
...coifs. Then the conversation started, and the anguish increased. There was Al, crinkling the corners of his eyes in his best "I feel your pain" imitation and managing only to look like he was in some sort of gastrointestinal distress. And here was George, leaning in so close to Oprah that he looked ready to fall right out of his chair. Both of them waxing saccharine over unnamed schoolchildren in danger of falling behind, but offering no clear solution to the problems of overcrowding and underteaching. Both rhapsodizing over their fairy-tale marriages, their flawless children, their beautiful interior decorating...
After these televised forums, both candidates should make every effort to appear jointly on national television. Conversations with Tim Russert and Larry King--along with appearances on late-night talk shows, Oprah and MTV--certainly have their place in presidential politics, but only if they are offered as additions to, rather than as substitutes for, fair and legitimate debates...
Which may help explain why Amazon itself acts like a hyperactive kid at the holidays--forever playing with something new. Last week Bezos got into the automobile business through a joint venture with Greenlight.com Customers can now order an Audi or a Chevy alongside electric drills and Oprah books. And it doesn't stop there. This week Amazon is set to open its Paris-based online store, Amazon.fr, a brave bid to raise international sales despite the fact that less than 1% of book sales in France are done online--and not for want of dotcoms...