During her visit to Asia’s largest literature festival in Jaipur, India, Oprah announced that she is endorsing President Obama in his 2012 re-election bid. Full details after the jump!
Funk Flex
Find Flex on Google +
Renowned American talk show host Oprah Winfrey said she ‘believed’ in U.S. President Barack Obama, while publicly endorsing his re-election bid at Asia’s largest literature festival in Jaipur city of India’s northwestern Rajasthan state on Sunday.
Winfrey, regarded as the most influential woman on U.S. television, had campaigned publicly for Obama in his 2008 run for the White House and helped raise millions of dollars for his campaign.
She has also interviewed Obama several times in the past on her widely viewed television show, both before and after his election.
Despite conceding he had made some mistakes, Winfrey voiced strong support to Obama.
“I believe in him (U.S. President Barack Obama), I love him, I appreciate him. I think that he has done, of course you make mistakes, you are walking into the White House. You have the whole world waiting to see what you are going to do, watching your every move. He is a man, he is man. I mean that in the best way, a man, meaning a world leader and he is man, he is not God, he is a man. So, as a man, you make mistakes, sometimes in the world,” Winfrey said while addressing a gathering of avid book-lovers and mediapersons.
Winfrey added that Obama had saved the U.S. from the brink of a complete economic depression, while stressing she was confident of his victory in the 2012 election.
“I feel that the world forgot that we were at the brink of a depression in our country and that nobody knows that we were going to be having breadlines. That may be an exaggeration, but he was able to stop that from happening. Then, as soon as it happened, everybody was like, well. They forgot and I think that it is a difficult job and I think that his next four years are going to be even more successful for our country, and that people are going to get back to work and it is going to be, it is going to be a really good thing that he remained in office. I feel very strongly he will remain in office,” said Winfrey.
Obama has promised to focus on the U.S. manufacturing “with more good jobs and more products stamped with Made in America,” energy, and skills for U.S. workers as key parts of his plans for the economy.
Voters do rate the economy as one of the most important factors in the upcoming election, and while U.S. growth has picked up, it remains fragile and unemployment, at 8.5 percent, is still high by historical standards.
Republicans maintain Obama is an old-fashioned tax-and-spend liberal whose policies hurt business and jobs.
Republicans say they oppose his policies because they view them as bad for the country, and say they are willing to work with the president on areas of genuine common ground.
