Oprah is standing for “change” with Obama, but thus far the biggest change she’s seen is in her approval ratings. Favorable opinion of the talk show host extraordinaire has slipped from 74 percent to 55 percent since she announced her endorsement of Barack Obama for President a year ago. It appears that not even the great O can escape the realities of celebrity endorsements.

Politico.com released a poll of 1.35 million people showing 46 percent of Americans prefer Ellen DeGeneres for their day time indulgence, compared to just 19 percent for Oprah. This red flag for the queen of day time television has not gone unnoticed.

Oprah has proved her business savvy by building a media empire. That awareness seemed to translate into realization of the damage Obama was doing to her image well before national polls figured it out. She has decided not to take a Huckabeean approach, and quietly, but quickly, got out. While still maintaining her support for Obama she hasn’t campaigned with him since South Carolina in January.

The unfortunate part is that neither Obama nor Oprah has gained much at all. While Oprah’s lost market share has only yielded a damaged brand, polls show Obama didn’t gain much from the endorsement either. ABC News and The Washington Post reported 82 percent of voters considered Oprah’s endorsement meaningless.

But don’t tell Oprah she should have just given money. “I think that my value to him, my support of him, is probably worth more than any check,” Oprah told Larry King. Never mind that the ABC/Post poll also showed that while 8 percent said her support would make them more likely to vote Obama, 10 percent said they were less likely to support him.

In the end, Oprah hasn’t proved immune to Hollywood’s historical price for outspoken political beliefs. Consider Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand, Alec, Baldwin, the Dixie Chicks, and the late Charlton Heston. Status doesn’t always translate into effectiveness and the personal cost may not be worth the potential political gain.