A Bound Man Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Cant Win
In Shelby Steele’s beautifully wrought and thoughtprovoking new book, A Bound Man, the award-winning and bestselling author of The Content of Our Character attests that Senator Barack Obama’s groundbreaking quest for the highest office in the land is fast becoming a galvanizing occasion beyond mere presidential politics, one that is forcing a national dialogue on the current state of race relations in America. Says Steele, poverty and inequality usually are the focus of such dialogues, but Obama’s bid for so high an office pushes the conversation to a more abstract level where race is a politics of guilt and innocence generated by our painful racial history — a kind of morality play between (and within) the races in which innocence is power and guilt is impotence.
Steele writes of how Obama is caught between the two classic postures that blacks have always used to make their way in the white American mainstream: bargaining and challenging. Bargainers strike a “bargain” with white America in which they say, I will not rub America’s ugly history of racism in your face if you will not hold my race against me. Challengers do the opposite of bargainers. They charge whites with inherent racism and then demand that they prove themselves innocent by supporting black-friendly policies like affirmative action and diversity.
Steele maintains that Senator Obama is too constrained by these elaborate politics to find his own true political voice. Obama has the temperament, intelligence, and background — an interracial family, a sterling education — to guide America beyond the exhausted racial politics that now prevail. And yet he is a Promethean figure, a bound man.
Says Steele, Americans are constrained by a racial correctness so totalitarian that we are afraid even to privately ask ourselves what we think about racial matters. Like Obama, most of us find it easier to program ourselves for correctness rather than risk knowing and expressing what we truly feel. Obama emerges as a kind of Everyman in whom we can see our own struggle to accept and honor what we honestly feel about race. In A Bound Man, Steele makes clear the precise constellation of forces that bind Senator Obama, and proposes a way for him to break these bonds and find his own voice.The courage to trust in one’s own careful judgment is the new racial progress, the “way out” from the forces that now bind us all.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Reveals a great deal about who Hussein Obama really is
Wonderful job by Shelby Steele. Reveals a great deal about who Hussein Obama is and what his character and speeches and actions tell us about his character. A great work on the personality of a candidate who has achieved almost nothing in his life. A must read for the Obama maniacs.
3 Stars Obama’s obsession about race
There are only three things that I like about this book. It was well written, and it does a good job of summarizing Obama’s book, Dreams of My Father. The best aspect of this book is that it is only 146 pages. This book is awful, because it is probably true. I can only use the author’s own words to explain it.
“So, people like Barack Obama and me are always under a degrees of suspicion.. And all this is worsened by the fact that whites are historically the “oppressor” race. Thus, by dumb logic of rational thinking, our very mother’s milk comes from through collaboration with the “enemy.”
Page 5
According to the author, Mr. Steele can’t win because both races will dislike you. The author is also biracial. .
The author extensively quotes Barack Obama’s book, Dreams from my Father. One story related from Obama’s book is about Joyce. Obama asks her if she is going to a Black Student Association. Joyce who also biracial replies, “I am not black. I’m multiracial. She tells him that her father is Italian—”the sweetest man in the whole world”–and that her mother is African, French, and Native American. Why should I choose them?” She asks, and then she makes a speech:”
“It is not the white people who are making me choose. Maybe it used to be that way, but not now they’re treat me like a people. No–it is black people who always make everything racial. They’re the ones making me choose. They are the ones who are telling me I can’t be who I Am.” page 46
“Poor Joyce” she will not choose her own black identify like Mr. Obama. Instead of seeing the wisdom of Joyce’s statements, Obama suggest that she may be a sell out, and according to the author Obama rejects her because of her race.
According to Mr. Steele, Senator Obama will not be able to make a decision without considering racial issues. “Obama is today a bound man who cannot serve the aspirations of one race without betraying those of the other.”
Page 126
I am only giving this book three stars, because I didn’t enjoy reading it.
The author only focused on one aspect of Obama and that involved his biracial background.
For a more comprehensive book on Obama check out Mr. Corsi’s book, The Obama Nation. Mr. Corsi does a better job researching and explaining Mr. Obama.
5 Stars Utterly fascinating
In this fascinating book, African-American columnist and thinker Shelby Steele looks at presidential candidate Barack Obama. Analyzing Obama’s family life and life experiences, Dr. Steele attempts to place him within the framework of modern African-American culture, particularly in light of the “masks” that African-Americans have had to “wear” within the American context of white racism and oppression. Dr. Steele believes that Senator Obama has risen far by his uniquely capable use of the “mask of the bargainer,” making whites feel good about themselves and receiving gratitude in return. But, can a man wear this “mask” and rise to the very summit of political power in the United States?
Overall, I found this to be an utterly fascinating book. I found Dr. Steele’s revealing of the African-American use of masks to survive and hopefully prosper within the framework of the American racial hierarchy, which was often viciously enforced, to be quite enlightening. Indeed, it put a lot of what I knew and have seen in modern American events into context.
Now, is Dr. Steele’s belief that Barack Obama cannot win correct? I suppose only time will tell. At this point, it does appear that his popularity within the mainstream left of the Democratic Party has given him more room for maneuver than Dr. Steele thought. As such, his chances for hearing Hail To The Chief played in his honor are still quite strong. As I said, only time will tell.
But, even if that part of the book is incorrect, I think that Dr. Steele’s explanation of race relations in the United States is penetrating and highly revealing. I highly recommend this book to any interested in truly understanding the United States today.
3 Stars If I reject both masks then who will I become??
Shelby Steele outlines a comparison between two types of social masks for African Americans; the “bargainer” and the “challenger.” It appears that the main thesis of this book is the fact that Barak Obama can not win the presidential race because he is a “bargainer” type. He seeks to ease the guilt of white America he will minimize his ability to gain the black vote because most will not entirely trust him has a representative of the people. The author proceeds to list several examples of `bargainers’ such as Ophrah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, and Louis Armstrong. The idea is that the African American can not win choosing either bargain or challenge chip. If he or she is a bargainer then that person fits into mainstream America but does not gain the effectiveness necessary to create social change. This is not a problem for the entertainment industry but it can be deadly for politics. The author also describes the challenger position as a person that uses racial guilt to their advantage. This person is not accepted by mainstream but gains all the trust and confidence of minorities. Examples are Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. The only power they hold relates to imposing white racial guilt. Finally, an effective African American that can create change would operate in the world as an individual refusing both masks. He or she will instead place responsibility on the African American community. He or she has a desire to work hard and earn a place in the world over use of racial pressures.
Over all I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars not for the fact that I agree with all the ideas and opinions in the book but because it asks new fundamental questions that allow African Americans the ability to move forward. It lays out an opportunity for the US to move pass race entirely. I feel that most of his argument is not supported by solid facts. Each example of bargainer has also publically acted in the position of challenger. I was also looking for active examples of the no mask alternative. I feel that there are many examples out there such as former Maryland Lt. Governor Steele. The problem with most examples is the fact that a person is still denied high levels of success. So if we look at Obama how can he achieve his success if neither mask is worn? The author fails to recognize the fact that we often have to get in the door before we can effect any change. Here is another book that states the problem but fails to outline a solution.
1 Star Pot calling the kettle black
Last night I saw Mr Shelby present his book in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and as an American who lives abroad I found it embarrassing. I feel that anyone who travels is an ambassador and I took great offense to his abusing of this power. He condesceningly accused all whites of being closet racists and could not acknowlege any value in an Obama presidency. He came across as ignorant, angry and racist.
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