Great point Peter. I agree that it’s her show and can do as she pleases. That said, the show is something in which her fans are heavily emotionally invested and they are not feeling like they are getting a return on their investment. I think Oprah’s decision is going to cost her heavily in terms of viewers, readers of her magazine, and eventually revenue from syndication rights.

It is worth noting an important difference between the furor surrounding her decision and the one surrounding Steinem’s op-ed. The latter is being bashed about the head for being an out-of-date orthodox feminist. Oprah is taking heat from subordinating gender to race.

The emergence of Palin onto the nationally scene made last week a disastrous one for the identity politics crowd. I hope the McCain campaign exploits it the hilt.
Current numbers (McCain-Palin up 10% over Obama-Biden with highly likely voters) suggests that they are reaping some benefit in the short term.