i'm by no means an expert on oprah, but i'm not sure that her politics are as unclear as briahna is suggesting. she was on tv everyday for 25 years, often discussing politicized issues, and i've seen enough of it to come away with the impression that she's rather obviously very conservative, even if i have to use the term "conservative" in a british or canadian context to get the point across. it's kind of annoying that there aren't any actual tories in the united states, because it makes it kind of useless to identify them. americans don't understand what that means. and, historically, the democrats were always the conservative party, anyways. 

i would suspect that there are millions of people alive that are over the age of 40 and actually have a pretty good grasp on what her politics are, merely by watching her show every day for decades. it actually probably wouldn't be very hard to find quotes from her where she frames things in certain ways that explain what she's thinking. but, what i remember from watching her show (mostly in the 90s and early 00s...) is that she used exceedingly judgemental body language incredibly often, and that she quite frequently quite blatantly looked down upon just about anybody that deviated from those obvious conservative values. the projection was always something like "how'd i get stuck with this job where i'm dealing with freaks all day?" kind of thing.

and, it's kind of differentiating. because, these people basically all did the same thing, but approached it from a different angle. jerry springer wanted to broadcast comedy; his show was a joke. phil donahue seemed legitimately empathetic, although he may have been a faker. of the bunch, geraldo is the one that seemed most interested in systemic inequality, and getting to root causes.

what oprah always projected was "i don't want to be here. get me away from these losers.". and, it really did project a deep social conservatism.

but, the united states doesn't have a liberal/conservative spectrum. it has a black/white spectrum. and, demographics as they are, the black party is going to have to have a conservative streak.

my suggested tactic: let oprah run, abandon the democrats and vote for a third party.

i mean, i just spent a few minutes on google and found out that:

1) oprah has publicly stated that she has often voted republican, in the past.

2) oprah supported the 2003 iraq war. this is especially notable because she did a lot of shows about it. that is, this is informed support for the 2003 iraq war; she knew what she was doing.

3) oprah opposes the estate tax (for obvious reasons.).

this is toxic to the voting base that the democrats need to win elections with. but, it's probably both a necessary and an inevitable path for the democrats to walk down...