As the person who controlled access to the first couple, Valerie
Jarrett saw Oprah as a potential threat to her power. If Oprah went
unchecked, she would bypass Valerie and go directly to the president and
first lady. What good was it being the gatekeeper if you couldn’t lock
the gate when you wanted? And so Valerie set about turning Michelle
against Oprah. Oprah was too close to the president . . . Oprah was
acting like she was the first lady . . . Oprah didn’t know her place . .
. Oprah was a bad influence . . . Valerie advised Michelle to “distance
herself” from Oprah and cut her out of the White House inner circle.
IT
didn’t take much to convince Michelle. As Michelle knew only too well,
her husband had a compelling need to win the approval of strong women
like Oprah. He seemed to be in awe of the talk-show host, sometimes
giving her advice priority over Michelle’s. For instance, Oprah thought
that Obama was overexposing himself on television and told him to pull
back. Though Michelle disagreed, Obama listened to Oprah and restricted
his TV appearances. As far as Michelle was concerned, Oprah’s billions
and her elite lifestyle disqualified her as an adviser to Barack, who
had no truck with wealthy people, except as a source of campaign
contributions, and was a redistributionist at heart.
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