I expect the endorsement is just an ‘as expected’ result. It would be very bad if Oprah had endorsed someone else (a non-black candidate), but there is not a whole lot to gain now that she has. I would think that it would be a situation that only has downside for Obama. Fortunately he has avoided that downside.

“It isn’t even Oprah’s fault, either.”

She probably does this with good intentions – even though she definitely profits from it, though probably not directly from the winning publishers. However, simply because of her massive influence over our population her recommendation will INHERENTLY be negative in my mind. This has nothing to do with the books being chosen or the reasons that they were (I give her the benefit of the doubt here and assume that she picks books that she has already read and likes). Every book she chooses could be THE most amazing book ever written and the system would still be obnoxious to me. Here are a few reasons why…

1. Consider the fact that all major book sellers include “(Oprah’s Book Club)” in some form in their listed TITLE of the book. This isn’t a case of Oprah simply saying “go read my book.” Her recommendation immediately and dramatically affects all facets of the publishing business. There isn’t just a list that you can find on her website… or even BarnesAndNoble.com. You can do a TITLE search on “Oprah’s Book Club” inside the inventory of these bookstores. She didn’t write the book. She didn’t edit or publish the book. But for reasons based purely upon capitalism her name is now and forever implanted into the book.

2. Imagine a high school where the most popular girl in school decides to wear pink shoes one day. Everybody else in the school sees this and start wearing pink shoes too. The pink shoes may be comfortable, but wouldn’t you still find it just a little bit obnoxious to see more and more people start showing up in pink shoes? Would there be something wrong with the person who didn’t wear pink shoes specifically because everyone else was doing it?

3. Consider Oprah’s My Favorite Things annual episode. Originally it started as a genuine attempt to share those things that Oprah liked around the holidays. But because it is Oprah (again, it isn’t exactly her fault that she’s popular) the episode has evolved into a very different animal today. Companies campaign throughout the year to be one of Oprah’s favorite things. Where she originally paid for audience gifts herself, today everything is eagerly donated to the show in hopes of using it as a major advertising spot. Oprah is quite literally being marketed to in the hopes that she in turn will market to the world through her seemingly innocent list of “My Favorite Things.” I don’t know what exactly is involved in the process for being selected to Oprah’s Book Club, but I find it a bit ridiculous to think that given the huge amounts of publishing revenue on the line that her monthly choice is merely the bundle of random pages on her nightstand. Because I tell you this: if I were a publisher it would be a thin and distant line that I wouldn’t cross to win her endorsement for my book.

I mean, consider the controversy that erupted just today over the inherent conflict between advertising revenue and honest opinions. And that was over just a few hundred thousand dollars between two moderately-sized corporations. This is OPRAH we are talking about here. The natural conflict between business and integrity must be exponentially greater in her case.

And once again…

“It isn’t even Oprah’s fault, either.”