A Nobel for Oprah? It's fun but silly talk
Nelson Mandela. Martin Luther King Jr. The Dalai Lama.
Oprah Winfrey?
Ah, yes, in this celebrity-wacky land of ours, there's a push to get the Queen of Daytime Talk added to the esteemed list of human rights activists and international statesmen and women who have won the Nobel Peace Prize.
So far, the Oprah for Nobel Peace Prize Movement has collected 6,000 signatures and hopes to get as many as 100,000 to deliver to former South African president Mandela, a 1993 recipient, or former President Jimmy Carter, who won the award in 2002, with the hope that one of the men will nominate Winfrey.
Could this all be an extreme reaction to last week's news that Winfrey had ended her decade-long feud with ''Late Show" host David Letterman and agreed to appear this week on his CBS show?
According to the movement's website, oprah4peaceprize.org -- whose founders seem absolutely serious about this endeavor -- Winfrey is deserving because her self-titled show ''has raised the consciousness of the universe about the critical issues of homelessness, poverty, hunger, race, crime, AIDS, women's inequality, and others."
Not to mention she was a willing enabler for 2005's most absurdly iconic moment -- Tom Cruise proclaiming his love for actress Katie Holmes by pouncing, for some inexplicable reason, on Winfrey's couch.
To be sure, Oprah has done numerous good works. Earlier this year, Winfrey launched ''Oprah's Child Predator Watch List," which posts information about accused child molesters who remain at large. Since October, three have been captured. Her ''Angel Network," which is already building schools in rural communities around the world, is also assisting families devastated by Hurricane Katrina. And her book club got people who probably hadn't touched a book since high school or college reading again.
Winfrey ''is not just another famous entertainer," says pro-Oprah movement founder Rocky Twyman. ''She's a friend to the world and a role model for all people, of any gender, of any race, of any group. Her warmth as a human being inspires and influences the millions worldwide who watch her daily, yet never meet her in person."
If nothing else, the Nobel Peace Prize could use an injection of Winfrey's glamour. When's the last time anyone paid attention to the award? Can anyone even name this year's recipient? (For the record, it was the International Atomic Energy Agency and Mohamed ElBaradei, cited for ''their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way." Worthwhile, yes, but boooooring!)
Unlike the Academy Awards or Grammys, you never hear people buzzing about the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Oslo, Norway. The top fashion designers certainly aren't lining up to dress the winners in egregiously overpriced creations. Not since Jimmy Carter won in 2002 has there been a name even remotely familiar to most of us.
But if they give Winfrey the prize, she might bring along several limos worth of such famous friends as Tina Turner and John Travolta -- but hopefully not Cruise, because no one needs that strange little man leaving footprints on the furniture.
There would be obnoxious red-carpet interviews conducted by Star Jones Reynolds, starlets sporting peace sign earrings and pendants designed by the House of Harry Winston, and a splashy televised ceremony, complete with really bad musical numbers. Even Bono, U2's lead singer who has himself been nominated, couldn't garner more attention or better ratings. Anyone can work for peace, but you can't beat Winfrey's luminous star power.
Since the award was established in 1901, no entertainer has ever won the Nobel Peace Prize -- and Winfrey shouldn't be the first. Given the millions who watch her show each day, it's hard to believe her supporters won't rustle up 100,000 signatures for their petition to get her nominated. For her part, Winfrey is wisely saying nothing -- she's way too smart to lobby for an award she never asked for in the first place.
Surely, many have benefited from Winfrey's philanthropy, and she deserves to be commended. Still, it's too much of a stretch to elevate the charitable deeds of a billionaire talk-show maven to the level of the many Nobel Peace Prize laureates who have toiled tirelessly in obscurity, and didn't need famous pals, a TV show as bully pulpit, or the ever-alluring cult of celebrity to make this world a much better place.
Renée Graham's Life in the Pop Lane column appears on Tuesdays. She can be reached at graham@globe.com 
