Column: ‘Women, doctors, local political leaders’: How Dr. Oz handed Democrats a path to victory
As he prepared to launch a nationally televised presidential campaign in February, Democratic strategist David Axelrod was worried that Hillary Clinton’s race-baiting would undermine the party’s chances this fall. He believed the GOP would use negative campaigning to exploit the gender gap in this year’s midterm elections, making Democrats the party of women when in reality they’ve gotten just a little worse off. His worry was unfounded. Indeed, Clinton did herself a disservice by suggesting that Republicans are sexist, to the point of preferring a man — the GOP’s own candidate for vice president, Mike Pence — over a woman herself.
Axelrod’s conclusion: “The Democrats should take the advice of one of their own. Dr. Mehmet Oz.”
Oz was one of the most influential and famous doctors in the country, and his show, “The Dr. Oz Show,” has been on the air in at least one version since 2005. He has a history of endorsing major Democratic candidates, including Bill Clinton, Al Gore and John Kerry, but he’s also a conservative who has criticized the nation’s first black president and the gay marriage movement.
Oz was the star of this column for a reason. Democrats can use Dr. Oz to win this year’s midterm elections, whether they realize it or not.
The key to making this strategy work, as Dr. Oz has made clear, is turning one of the most conservative doctors in America into a liberal.
Oz is not a conservative. His views are far closer to those of the Democratic base than those of the party’s power brokers.
Oz’s politics are closely aligned with what the progressive movement calls “Medicare for All.”
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Oz, 69, is married to an actress he met on an airplane. He has four children, and his wife, Tanya, is a liberal activist who works with Planned Parenthood. They attend the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, onetime home to the world’s top financial planners (including the architect of the New York Stock Exchange) and the Wharton School of Business at the University