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The backlash against Oprah Winfrey's support for Barack Obama was predictable but the reasons run deeper than they appear. To those of us who watch her TV show daily, she's not a feminist icon or a symbol of women's liberation. She's a friend, a sister, the strong mother we never had. We're on a first-name basis with Oprah and our relationship with her transcends race, ethnicity, and age.

In a world where women's concerns are rarely a priority, we tune into Oprah and we're validated. For an hour every day, our interests and problems are worthy of discussion. Our traumas deserve to be healed. Our suffering in silence is unacceptable. For more than 20 years, Oprah has encouraged women to live our lives without compromise.

In many ways, she has succeeded in raising women's consciousness where the women's movement of the 1960s failed. Instead organizing women she simply talked to us. She stressed the importance of developing our self esteem and self awareness. She acknowledged our fears, our insecurities, and she never judged us. With sincerity, humor and deep compassion, Oprah was able to help women see value in themselves as individuals.

No matter what the topic of her show may be, the subtext of Oprah's message has always been the same: women are important. After more than 20 years of watching Oprah's show and witnessing her great accomplishments, we have come to believe this to be true.

Now, for the first time since American women were given the right to vote, we have a viable woman candidate running for president. For many of us, Hillary Clinton may well be the only electable woman to emerge in our lifetime. Young women can now set a goal to become president and have reason to believe it's actually possible. This is an historic moment for women and we expected Oprah to share in our excitement. Instead, she announced her support for Barack Obama.

It shocked many of us because, when it comes to Oprah, we are colorblind. She is our champion, our hero, our role model. We forget she shares a tragic history with other African-Americans. And we're stunned to discover she's decided electing an African-American president takes priority over electing a woman.

Now the backlash has begun. But, as Oprah has taught us through her TV shows, anger is symptom of deep hurt. We wanted her in our corner on this one.

Learn more about this author, Susan Castle.
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