Edwards’ Supporters Rip Oprah In Conference Call Set Up By His Campaign

The New York Times reports:

And on a conference call today, supporters of former Senator John Edwards expressed dissatisfaction with Ms. Winfrey for coming here but not addressing issues like education, health care or poor conditions facing senior citizens.

“If you can build a school in South Africa, build one in South Carolina,” Linda Dogan, a member of the City Council in Spartanburg, said on the conference call, which was organized by the Edwards campaign.

The stated purpose of the call was for several prominent African-Americans who support Mr. Edwards to discuss the candidate’s “plan for opportunity.” They said that Mr. Edwards was emphasizing issues like poverty and education, that he was paying attention to rural areas and to the criminal justice system, that he had a “Southern strategy” and that he could win.

…

Ms. Dogan said that as a black woman, Ms. Winfrey’s visit “doesn’t mean anything to me” if she is not going to deal with local issues. “It makes me a little ill,” she said, noting that Ms. Winfrey is extremely wealthy. “Oprah coming here means absolutely nothing to me unless she’s going to do something for South Carolina,” she said.

Read more.

Isn’t it the pot calling kettle black to see the Edwards campaign accusing someone of a photo-op after Edwards was ripped for this during his ‘poverty tour’?

Oprah Winfrey has done more for black folk in the United States than John Edwards will probably ever do in his lifetime. Yes, she does stuff in South Africa but she has pumped tons of money into worthy initiatives to help African Americans and women and people of all races here in the United States as well. She has used her Angel Network to stand up for the little people throughout her career.

So it’s wrong for the woman to have enough reach to build houses in New Orleans and to want to help people in Africa? To insinuate that she is only interested in a photo-op and not in helping people is just wrong. What has John Edwards done, except talk?

And to have the nerve to pull something like this as much as Oprah has graciously had the Edwards’ on their show and had Elizabeth Edwards in her magazine.

UPDATE: More Edwards supporters are speaking out.  The Kansas City Star reports:

Prominent African-American supporters of John Edwards accused Barack Obama on Friday of performing a “publicity stunt” by bringing Oprah Winfrey to South Carolina and other early presidential primary states, saying that blacks won’t vote for Obama just because of his race.

Winfrey, the billionaire TV star, was scheduled to campaign with Obama in Iowa on Saturday, South Carolina on Sunday and New Hampshire on Monday.

“John Edwards has committed himself to making rural communities’ infrastructure a priority rather than have a celebrity come in,” said South Carolina state Rep. Leon Howard. “It’s insulting for anyone to think that African-Americans are automatically onboard with Barack Obama.” [sagereader: It's also insulting to think that African Americans who are on board with Obama are 'automatically' onboard with him just because of his race.]

…

Connie Johnson, a black legislator from Missouri, said Edwards is the only White House candidate talking about poverty, health care disparities and other issues of concern to African-Americans. [sagereader:  Not true.]