Joe Scarborough: ‘Why Doesn’t Oprah Run for Senate?’

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough says if Oprah wants to be president, it might be best for her to consider a career in the U.S. Senate first.

“Here’s a radical idea. Why doesn’t Oprah run for Senate in Illinois and serve for six years and figure out how Washington works. That would be great,” he said on the set of “Morning Joe” Thursday morning. “If Oprah wants to be president, why doesn’t she run for Senate first.”

Also on-hand was New York Times conservative columnist Bret Stephens, who agreed with the host.

Also Read: Joe Scarborough Backs Jeb Bush Over Oprah: 'He Would Have Been a Great President'

“Why is it that now, all of a sudden we want TV personalities to become presidents?” Stephens asked. “I happen to think Oprah is an amazing woman, a wonderful woman, extraordinary in all respects, I am not quite sure she is qualified to be the president on the first go.”

“But we now have a system in which personalities instead of experience or instead of policy chops or instead a long life in politics seem to be what potentially qualifies you for a run for the presidency and that may be a fundamental change,” he added.

Co-host Mika Brzezinski disagreed with Stephens and Scarborough, saying if Americans had better politicians, they wouldn’t look for celebrities to fix their problems.

“The politicians have really let people down and abused their roles as leaders,” she said. “We’re here for a reason.”

Scarborough has been publicly critical of an Oprah presidency. He recently praised Jeb Bush, and Mitt Romney, saying they would have been great presidents.

President Oprah — a long-simmering possibility — took on renewed and feverish speculation after her widely lauded speech at the 75th annual Golden Globe awards on Sunday. In a shift of the official line, her longtime partner Stedman Graham told reporters Sunday that she “would absolutely do it”

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