[Peace-discuss] Obama's rich friends

[C. G. Estabrook]

[On Illinois' DLC senator, from NYDN gossip column, which doesn't mention
his votes for Gonzales and against class action. --CGE]

Oprah goes for Barack

Oprah Winfrey is wading deeper into politics. The talk queen has
repeatedly said "No thanks" to friends like designer Diane von Furstenberg
and media mogul Barry Diller who've begged her to run for office. But the
woman who can turn books into best sellers is now ready to stump for
candidates.

"The reason I've never come out and risked my position is because there's
never been anyone I felt was worth taking that risk for," she tells us.

That is, until she met Barack Obama during his campaign for an Illinois
U.S. Senate seat. "Barack feels like the truth to me," Winfrey says.

She says she hasn't been bothered by Obama's go-slow approach - for
instance, his cautious questioning of Secretary of State Rice during her
confirmation hearings. "I'm pleased that he understands there is a growth
period, that he is the new kid on the block," she says. "He has to sharpen
his pencils first before he can go at it."

And if he needs more pencils, Oprah can certainly afford to buy him some.