Re: [Dems2008] "A Bound Man"

You forgot to add the subtitle to that book...

A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win.

Commonweal reviewed the book... http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/article.php3?id_article=2170&recalcul=oui

Not all wisdom, alas, is ageless. Some comes
with an expiration date—or ought to. And applying outdated wisdom to
new circumstances can make yesterday's wise man look like today's fool.

I have long been an admirer of Shelby Steele,an attitude that puts me at odds with a great many other black peopleof my generation. I find him an uncommonly graceful writer and haveappreciated his willingness to say-at moments when black establishmentorthodoxy couldn't bring itself to—that the condition of black peoplein this country was both better and more complex than it had been inthe past, precisely because it no longer is shaped solely by whiteracism. But with his slender volume on Barack Obama, A Bound Man, I fear Steele has applied outdated wisdom to a new phenomenon, and in the process gone from wise man to fool.

As I read his essay, I found myself thinkingthat Steele was trapped in a time warp, that his knowledge of thecurrents of thought and attitude among black people stopped sometimearound 1990. Less charitably, I found myself thinking that theegregious Al Sharpton is not the only one with an investment in astatic view of American race relations.

Slainte,
Rob Harrington

----- Original Message ----
From: nancy m gibson <nmgibson@JUNO.COM>
To: Dems2008@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, March 28, 2008 4:23:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Dems2008] "A Bound Man"

I read Shelby Steele's book on Obama yesterday. Interesting
book, I would recommend it. Not so much because of Obama
but because it gives a good perspective on Blacks and Whites
and their relationship with each other. Like Obama Steele is
both Black and White. --------------Nan

NEVER COMPLAIN AND NEVER EXPLAIN: MOVE IMMEDIATELY
TO ATTACK---------------from The Lion & The Unicorn

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