TIME was, when the president of the United States requested your help, you helped – no matter what.
But not Oprah Winfrey.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read that she actually said no when President Bush asked for her help promoting U.S. values on a tour of Afghan schools as part of a planned delegation of accomplished American women.
Oprah’s refusal – supposedly because she’ll be too busy making her TV show at the time the goodwill trip was to be scheduled – was astonishing and dismaying.
Oprah is one of the most powerful figures in the entertainment industry. No matter how “respectful” her office claims it was, a refusal from her – in wartime, no less – sends a strong and unfortunate signal to the rest of Hollywood that it’s OK to sit this one out, even if the president’s office calls to tell you your country needs you.
Too busy making shows, Oprah? On what? The ravings of Dr. Phil? The confessions of Celine Dion?
In her public life – on her TV show and in her magazine – Oprah has been an eloquent role model for women, and that’s what makes it so puzzling that she wouldn’t go to Afghanistan to set an example for Afghan girls who have recently started back to school for the first time since the now-routed Taliban first came to power.
But no – she’s too busy making her all-important TV show to participate in the war effort at the request of the president.
For shame.
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So this is what CNN has come to: Tacking wrestling-style nicknames on a bunch of dweeby political pundits.
That’s the strategy the also-ran news network has come up with to counter its boisterous competitors on MSNBC, CNBC and Fox News Channel – none of whom, from Chris Matthews to Bill O’Reilly, have nicknames, so far as I can recall.
The new monikers are being applied to the panelists on that old warhorse “Crossfire,” which CNN promises will emerge tonight at 7 from its customary stupor to morph into something resembling the high-volume fireworks of the topical talk shows on the other news networks.
Thus you get James “Ragin’ Cajun” Carville, Tucker “Bow Tie” Carlson (oh, brother!), Robert “Prince of Darkness” Novak and Paul “Longhorn Lefty” Begala.
Here’s hoping the nickname trend doesn’t end there. A few suggestions: Larry “The Hunchback” King, Paula “Don’t Call Me Sexy” Zahn, Wolf “Leader of the Pack” Blitzer, and Anderson “The Mole” Cooper.
Sorry, Aaron Brown, but I couldn’t think of one for you.