Well, sort of.
This is my story and I stand by it:
At the beginning of October 2004, my thoughts were completely occupied with the race for the presidency of the United States between President GW Bush – then seeking a second term – and Senator John KerryThe controversial campaigns had now reached the “Your mommy and daddy too!” stage, where insults replace anything resembling constructive dialogue. Only a superhero could save this cause from sinking even deeper into the mud.
In other words, Oprah, then the empress of television and actually of the nation. My producer buddy Eric Nelson really upset me and assured me: “Oprah has to get involved. What is she up to?” That pushed me to act.
Fueled by Erik’s righteous indignation, I floated the idea that Oprah needed to come to the rescue in my weekly column, “The Pulse,” in the Hollywood Reporter. I also asked a lot of questions that day. Why didn’t Oprah talk about the presidential campaign on her show? Why didn’t she let the candidates answer questions that were more important than, “Why aren’t you smiling anymore, Senator?” She seemed to be deliberately detaching herself from the upcoming election. Did she not care about America?
At around 2:30 p.m. that afternoon, the phone in my home office rang (it was still a landline at the time). I answered the call.
“Ray Richmond, please.”
“Speaking of which.”
“It’s Oprah Winfrey.”
It was immediately clear that this was no imposter. That unmistakable voice and manner. Her Highness, inexplicably and surrealistically on line 1. No assistant announcing, “Please hold for Miss Winfrey.” Just her.
“Hello Ray,” she said coolly.
My brain was racing: God named me Ray! God named me Ray!
“Um, hi Oprah,” I replied, pretending not to be completely freaked out. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t buying it.
“I am here with four of my producers who are participating in this conversation. We read your column today with great interest. We are wondering what you would suggest we do to include the presidential candidates in the program.”
“Seriously?”
I didn’t even realize I had spoken out loud until she replied, “Oh, definitely.”
My face suddenly turned red. It felt like an out-of-body experience, like I was floating above my shocked self. I put the phone down for a second to clear the cobwebs. Yes, I was conscious. Yes, I was about to attend an “Oprah” story meeting as an unpaid consultant.
I had suddenly transformed from a sloppy freelance journalist in his underwear into the guy Queen Oprah I turned to.
But wait.
“So let me get this straight,” I finally said. “Are you really interested in what I have to say, or are you just trying to tease me, like, ‘OK, Mr. Know-It-All, what great ideas do you have, hmmm?'”
To be honest, I could hardly believe my own audacity and had the presence of mind to speculate out loud whether this was just a sporting opportunity to belittle and intimidate some media idiot.
“No, we really care about what you have to say,” Oprah assured me. “Your column got us thinking. So what do you think?”
It was completely unbelievable. She had found my judgment worth… well… something. Life had given me Oprah, so I did what Oprah did and spent the next 15 minutes telling her and her production hands how to run their show. A week of shows with Bush. A week of shows with Kerry. Lots of questions from the audience. Nationally televised town hall meetings. Nothing too radical, honestly. Common sense.
They all seemed to accept what I had to say. Oprah thanked me for my time and ideas, and assured me afterward that this had all been confidential (the statute of limitations on this had expired, I decided). She promised to seriously consider my suggestions. She said goodbye.
And then she did nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
Fast forward two and a half years to May 2007. Oprah announced that she would endorse Illinois Senator Barack Obama for the 2008 presidential nomination. Not only did she throw herself headfirst into the campaign, but she did so 18 months before the election date, becoming a one-woman publicity machine for the man who would win the White House.
Why this sudden political passion and zeal from a woman who until now kept partisanship and television as separate as church and state? One might have suspected that it was due to Obama’s race, his roots in Illinois or his kennedy-like youth and vitality.
Or… one might think back to a particular phone conversation in October 2004 with a journalist who confronted Oprah, shook her conscience, absolved her of responsibility… and left her determined to do things differently next time.
If you were to come to the latter conclusion – and I hope you do – while also recognizing Oprah’s enthusiastic support as a key contribution to Obama’s ascension to the Oval Office, it would mean that I personally have fundamentally changed the direction of the free world.
Yes, let’s continue with that.
And now Oprah is back, this week with the support Kamala Harris for the presidency and will likely go on tour to campaign for it.
You’re welcome.
