Oprah Unleashed in Post-Election Show

[cal04]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/11/05/oprah_unleashed_in_post-electi.html

"Today the election is over and I'm unleashed!"

So said Oprah Winfrey as she launched a post-election discussion on her program, the first such televised political conversation she's moderated since announcing her personal support for Barack Obama last year. The popular talk show host vowed to keep quiet on her show, partially to avoid alienating viewers who did not support the senator's candidacy.

Winfrey bounded on stage at the start of the program waving an American flag and wearing a red button-down sweater and white T-shirt emblazoned with the words, "Hope Won." Almost immediately, she acknowledged that some in her loyal audience might be disappointed with the outcome of the election.

"Trust me, I know," she said. "If it had turned out differently, we'd be doing the show today from Northwestern Hospital with a drip," she said to laughs.

Winfrey assembled what she called "my own political panel," including CNN commentator and White House veteran David Gergen, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), feminist Gloria Steinem, Afro-American studies professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and columnist Peggy Noonan. The quintet joined Winfrey via satellite.

"I must tell you, last night was one of the most moving moments in my life," Lewis, a veteran of the civil rights movement, told Winfrey. "I tried to not cry, but I did shed some tears. At one point, when they called the state of Pennsylvania, I knew that Barack Obama was going to win. I had an out of body experience. I jumped so high -- I was at Ebeneezer Baptist Church -- I just embarrassed myself."

[Kceres]

1. "Hope Won"

would be a great bumper sticker.