Oprah Winfrey will not be campaigning for President Barack Obama in his 2012 presidential re-election effort.
The daytime television legend and media mogul made it clear that she is preoccupied with her recently launched cable television network.
“No, I'm not going to be out there,” Oprah said Monday on “CBS This Morning.”
The reason, according to Oprah, is that she is dealing with her cable channel OWN, which has had difficulty in attracting a sizable audience.
“I am 100 percent behind our president,” she said. “I actually love our president and have the utmost respect for him and that office and what it takes to be there. I will not be out because I’m trying to fix the network.”
In 2007 Oprah gave her first political endorsement ever to then-presidential candidate Obama. She made numerous appearances on Obama’s behalf, including the hosting of some highly successful fundraising events, and even shed tears of joy when Obama was elected.
The president still remembers the Oprah endorsement and recently expressed his gratitude at a fundraiser.
“And then, there is my good friend, Oprah,” Obama said, “who very early on, when I was still running, just decided that she would support this guy with a name that nobody could pronounce.”
“And just like books and skin cream, when Oprah decides she likes you, then other people like you, too,” the president added.
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