ONE WOMAN'S PRIVATE JET IS ANOTHER MAN'S MORTGAGE

Oprah Winfrey was invited to give the commencement address to the starry-eyed, graduates of Duke University recently.

After the usual dose of her 'sofa-motivation' speech she decided to “inspire” them further.

Her message to them: I really love my private jet!

"It's great to have a nice home. It's great to have nice homes! It's great to have a nice home that just escaped the fire in Santa Barbara," she told the students. "It's great to have a private jet. Anyone that tells you that having your own private jet isn't great is lying to you."

Of course from her nearly 1000 word speech this part was what was remembered and picked up by the media.

And then the backlash followed.

Here is a selection of comments from the different US media.

* This is NOT the first indication ever that Oprah is selfish and out of touch. Doesn't anyone remember how she sent a courier to her mother's house to take back tupperware or how she once laughed at how she takes her Bentley to McDonald's?

* In all fairness, she did build her Ompire from the ground up. I don't listen to her advice, buy the crap she sells, or read her books (books, not literature) but I really do admire her for what she has accomplished. It's not her fault the bored and unfulfilled housewives of America lap it up, and would wait in line to do so

* Oprah lost me when she sent Anderson Cooper, Maria Shriver, and herself out to cover "Poverty In America." The 3 of them, with more money than many countries, put on their serious-concerned-journalist face that always seems a little too patronizing for me. The lecture on how bad it "really is" in this country was the last straw for me. I know people are poor. I'm one of them. This was hardly surprising. Perhaps Oprah ought to get off that jet every so often. She's lost touch

* I think, given her age, that Oprah might not have been admitted to Duke when she was of college age, so I don't blame her for rubbing it in their face now.

I’m not old enough to be counted among the ‘wise’ (yet) but I can guess that one of the virtues of wisdom, is knowing what NOT to say.

But then again, if I had a Billion $'s, I’d probably say and do things that normal people don’t.

And one should also not forget that this audience was a group of elite uber-rich kids of Duke University and not some small community college

Its all a matter of perspective.

What Say?