Oprah Issues Backhanded Compliment of Palin With 'Intelligence' Jab

There are compliments, and then there are backhanded compliments. File Oprah's latest comments about Sarah Palin into the latter category.

In an interview with the magazine Parade, Oprah was asked her thoughts on Sarah Palin's probable run for president. The first reply was fairly complimentary:

I don't know her so I can't speak to [whether or not she'll be a candidate]. But I would say that America's going to fall in love with her from [her reality series, Sarah Palin's Alaska]. When I saw that first episode, I went, 'Whoa! She is charming and very likable.

Then there was the follow-up question along the lines of, "Does a Palin 2012 presidential run scare you?" Oprah couldn't resist:

It does not scare me because I believe in the intelligence of the American public.

Ouch. But Palin wasn't the only one Oprah took shots at. While explaining that her reviews of President Obama are still very glowing (when asked if she was concerned or disappointed in the president), she made it clear that the American people are just ungrateful for what Obama's done for them:

No. I think that no one understands until you’ve been in that seat the enormous pressure to please and satisfy everybody. And I think instead of being grateful for where we are and what he has done, we’ve forgotten that we were on the brink of  a depression when he took over this office. And as everybody celebrates the holiday season and sits around with their families, regardless of your circumstance, we could’ve had breadlines. How soon we forget that. [Emphasis added]