Much respect here, too. She's smart and philanthropic in countless ways. She has done more for the cause of books and literacy than anyone in the last 15 years, I suspect. She's done vast work here in the U.S. for education, too, Gatekeeper, but she chose to build her first academy in South Africa because the kids and culture there are more interested in education than low-income American kids and their education culture are. Not just her opinion. That's a fact. South Africa also had special meaning because she grew up in a Mississippi situation that was just as bleakly poor as most of those girls, a level of poverty that's now very hard to find here. Also, this isn't the only such institution she'll fund. She's looking at future ones here.

Oprah must be easy to hate because she's such a well-known, wealthy public figure. But if you look at what she's done, besides airing a well-done TV show for so many years that has drawn attention to thousands of important issues, there are few men or women anywhere who even come close to doing what she's done for poor children, families and education around the world. Philanthropy on that scale deserves a lot of respect.