A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win by Shelby Steele Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win
Book Review: Good models; wrong political year...
Summary: 4 Stars
Reading "A Bound Man" this week, I was struck by the fact that it already seems of book outdated by inaccurate predictions. On page 122 Steele writes, "As a Democrat, (Obama) must have both the white and black vote to do well in the primaries as well as in the general election, assuming he gets that far." Clearly, Obama has already exceeded the limitations this book places on him.
The problem with Steele's thesis is that it focuses too exclusively on race as a deciding factor in this most contentious of election years. I am not in any way minimizing racism in America, nor am I minimizing the considerable talent, energy, and vision of Barack Obama. I am, however, minimizing race as the single factor on voters' minds in a year that features a tanking economy, an unpopular war, and a public wariness towards Washington insiders. Voters are, if nothing else, motivated by self-interest. The candidate who is going to help them out is the one who will get the vote. If Obama were running against a popular incumbant, race might be a central issue. As it is, he's running against an unpopular choice (the anti-Hillary voters are legion) and an unpopular war (which may give him the edge over McCain).
There is nothing wrong with Steele theories, they just don't apply to Obama. They also veer towards reductionism. I think there is some truth to Steele's idea that iconic blacks like Oprah and Bill Cosby are "bargainers" -- extending the benefit of the doubt to whites and in turn receiving their gratitude. However, this theory is also oversimplified. For many white people of my generation (born in the '70s) segregation and overt racism are things we were taught about in history class. The type of racism that exists post-Jim Crow (and I do realize it's endemic and often instutitional) is more difficult to discern if you aren't on the receiving end of it. This is the root of the type of blissful ignorance in white America that makes blacks like Bill Cosby and Oprah more relatable. It's not the ease of their racial message; it's the fact that race appears incidental to them, much as it is to white people. Hence the relatability.
I also disagree with Steele's idea that "bargainers" like Oprah Winfrey lack an authentic self. Anyone who watches Oprah regularly (I haven't for years myself) knows she's all about authentic selfhood. She has formed a strong identity based on sisterhood, charity, intellectualism, materialism, Christian values, and New Age philosophies. Those are all things that, at least for her, seem to transcend living in a racist society.
Steele uses Bill Cobsy as an example of the dangers "bargainers" face by detailing his dwindling popularity due to his pleas for black responsibility. White Americans will turn on bargainers for not keeping up their end of the bargain. Maybe this is true for some people. My own perception is that Bill Cobsy's dwindling popularity is due to sexual misconduct charges, not to his attitude towards poor urban blacks.
So, why do I give this book four stars? Because it is based on some very interesting, post-modern theories about how power works as a synergy among people (and groups of people.) There is certainly some truth to Shelby Steele's models. However, a lot of what he says might be more accurately applied in a more benign political year.
Book Review: Crystallizes the Rev. Wright Debacle
Summary: 5 Stars
ANYONE who intends to vote for Obama MUST read this book beforehand. So many questions are answered: Who exactly is Obama, why he would choose Rev. Wright as a pastor...all the pieces fall into place quite nicely. Obama wants more discussion on race? HERE IT IS!Book Review: A Pathetic Attempt at a Hack Job
Summary: 1 Stars
Shelby Steele, a second-rate academic with third-rate educational credentials, seems impelled to define such people as Cornel West and Barack Obama as "mediocre". This is because poor Shelby couldn't get into an Ivy League university and will smolder with rage for the rest of his days over this unalterable fact. Cornel West, Harvard-educated, was a University Professor at Harvard, one of the highest honors that can be bestowed. Barack Obama, Harvard-educated, was President of the Harvard Law Review. President of the Harvard Law Review! Ask any lawyer in the world what this means. And yet Shelby Steele would label these men mediocre. Poor Shelby. He can't control his deep and bitter envy, especially after Cornel West dismissed him as "politically naive". Poor Shelby. Maybe being associated with Stanford is just what his pitiful little ego needs for validation. And if there is truly a Bound Man anywhere in this olio of bitterness, envy, jealousy and rank resentment, Shelby Steele should look no further than his mirror to find that person. Book Review: A great read
Summary: 5 Stars
Even if you don't agree with Steele's assertions about race relations (several 1-star reviews don't) this is a fascinating book. It is beautifully written and Steele makes some compelling, although uncomfortable arguments. In the frame of a literary criticism, Steele uses texts of Obama's books and speeches to make his case about the problem of race that has Obama "trapped" between election strategies. At this point in the game it looks like he's got a shot but I would argue that it is because of his adaptation and the appeal of his wife that he has been able to bridge the gap so far. Steele's analysis is still worthwhile and I'd suggest this book to anyone interested in Obama and/or the analysis of race relations. Book Review: Steele proves prophetic
Summary: 4 Stars
Shelby Steele has proved prophetic in articulating the dangerous intersection of race and politics faced by the first serious African-American candidate for president. It turns out that Obama pursued his adult African-American identity, in part, in a church community with an ethos of deep anger, to the point of paranoia (the U.S. government invented AIDS and imports street drugs to persecute the African-American community etc). Many whites are learning for the first time that such seemingly fringe views are prevalent (or at least tolerated)in many parts of the African American community, a legacy of generations of oppression.
Can Obama now explain to white America his identification with and involvement in that community without alienating African-American opinion reflected by Reverend Wright? Can he be a bridge that opens a dialogue of deeper understanding by which whites come to grips with the anger and fears of many African-Americans while the latter face up to the futility of relying on these emotions to forge a better future in an increasingly multi-cultural country in which they are only the second largest minority?
To do so, and to have a realistic chance of being elected, Obama must take some greater risk to address these simmering tensions with a bold and honest vision of how they can be overcome through a demanding commitment to reconciliation. So far he has not addressed this head on. Instead, he has tried to let his own carefully told story and message of unity point a way forward. But this will not be enough. His response to the controversy over the Reverend Wright and his church will be either an historic opportunity or a defining moment of failure.
Mr. Steele knew whereof he spoke.