The Oprah conversation is really fascinating. I agree with what you posted here.
Vox ran a piece holding her to account for the crank medicine she's willingly spawned and indulged through her show, and that's one area I'd have a lot of question about her judgement. I also agree with what Jon Favreau said, which is not to be so quick to dismiss the power of the ability to inspire out of hand. He, after all, worked for Obama, whose political star also shot through the roof on the back of one well-timed speech. But Obama was a
constitutional law professor and Senator, so it's not a 1:1.
And there's a lot of good meta conversation here too, highlighting for example how quick we are to cast her into a Magical Negro (
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagicalNegro) role. And how there have been other big celebrity names floated for discussion before -- Mark Cuban, Mark Zuckerberg, Kanye...and
none of them met the same withering scrutiny about their abilities.
Ultimately I think we are right to regard the celebrity presidency with this suspicion, and I hope we'll continue to do this the next time someone with the overwhelming advantage of icon status decides to "get into politics" by seeking the highest office in the land.
Though, counter-point: perhaps what we need is celebrity figureheads to occupy our attention, and remove much of the power and therefore dangers of the office. I dunno, that's too hypothetical for me!