by Belinda Youlten

Created on: February 06, 2008

Because of her race and gender Oprah Winfrey is damned if she does and damned if she doesn't support Barack Obama. As one of America's most powerful and influential women she comes under fire from various self interest groups on whatever she does.

Feminists see her absence of support for Hilary Clinton as a slap in the face for women's rights. Blinded by their vitriolic attacks on Winfrey, they are forgetting that this woman has and continues to bring awareness and change to more women's issues than the feminist movement itself.

Winfrey has the same rights as any other person in a democratic country. She is free to choose and support who she wants in this presidential campaign. This is her right as a woman.

Regardless of her influence over her media audience, as a voter she has just one vote.
Surely as a woman she is taking up her feminist right by supporting who she wants to. Would she not have suffered a similar backlash not only from the African American community but the state of Illinois had she not supported Obama?

Barack Obama is the junior US Senator for Illinois and Winfrey lives and has her media empire Harpo Productions in Chicago. Why wouldn't she support the hometown boy? Supporting a candidate because you both wear a bra and share similar anatomy is ludicrous.

The pundits stress that it's unclear what difference Winfrey's endorsement of Obama will make. She definitely raised his national profile but she is not filling out voting slips for voting women. That is their right.

If she has inspired women who have never voted to listen to a candidate or even just register to vote, surely this is for the good of the feminist movement.

Although not as high profile as Winfrey, the other talk show host Ellen Degeneres is openly supporting Hillary Clinton. Which is Degeneres' right as a voter regardless of her gender or that she has a talk show with millions of viewers.

With Winfrey's support of Obama and Degeneres' of Clinton, you have two powerful women who rule afternoon television whole-heartedly supporting the Democrats. What more promotion do feminists want to change the ruling government?

When it comes to championing the causes of women's rights, there can be no stronger fighter than Winfrey. Through her mediums of television, radio, print and the Internet, she has single-handedly raised the awareness of the plight of women not only in America but around the world.

Feminists should be thankful that they have such a strong advocate of women's rights.

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