I have read and enjoyed all of Shelby Steele’s previous books. He is one of those rare authors that does not write what he thinks his readership wants to read; he writes what is truly on his mind and, more importantly, what is in his heart. He sees race not simply as a ball-and-chain, binding us to a past without a future, but as a subject worthy of insightful and refreshingly honest analysis. He feels, as do I, that there is more than enough blame to go around for the racial divide that still plagues America and retards it progress. Indeed, there is quite enough to paint both black and white America with equal and even coats of incriminating latex. We are all culpable for the perpetuation of the heinous idiocy of racism. No one is exempt. As I have submitted before, we are all racists - blacks, whites, browns and other skin hues. And we all have work to do to escape this dead-end trap. We must start with our own houses and within our own hearts.

Shelby Steele is man uniquely qualified to tease out and examine the rotting roots of racism. Like Senator Obama, Dr. Steele is the son of a interracial marriage. He, too, was loved and well-educated by his parents. He, too, has become a prominent spokesperson (sadly, in my view, without political aspirations) on racial matters in the United States. And, for these reasons, he is uniquely suited to write "A Bound Man" (subtitled: "Why we are excited about Obama and why he can’t win") - one of the few must-read books early in the 2008 campaign season.

An earlier reviewer who described the book as a "hit piece" against Obama's candidacy is merely expressing an emotion-driven, simplistic and partisan outlook on what is not so much a political evaluation as it is an indictment of American culture. This short book is much more than an examination of one candidate’s political beliefs. In distilling the prose to its essence, this book is an inspired examination of the state of racial thought in this country. Further, it discusses why, sadly, it is still perceived as necessary to include race as a criteria for selection criterion for national office. Below the surface, the book illuminates the hard, cold and dark fact that, for both whites and blacks, it remains necessary to assume "masks" to shield public perception of one’s true character, especially in the political arena. It examines the masquerade that we all attend in our daily lives - complete with costumes and facades - simply because we are too ashamed and timid to expose the true nature of our beliefs, right or wrong, "P.C." or not - for fear of repercussions.

He is eminently correct in categorizing, first, Louis Armstrong and, currently, Oprah Winfrey (and Michael Jordan and, to some degree, Tiger Woods) as "bargainers" just as he is correct in calling Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Spike Lee (OK, I added Spike Lee; Steele does not) as "challengers". "Bargainers" work within the world in which they live with a unspoken bargain: "I, as a person of color, will not harangue you, as a white person, with your racial guilt if you will accept me for what I am and the talents I have". "Challengers" are those who act as the "racial police," assuming the worst of white people (i.e. that we are all de facto racists) and quick to point out any misstep that can be construed to even remotely prove their presumptions. Steele believes that by continuing this once-popular strategy (at least, popular on the campuses and in the media of the 1960s and, to a lesser degree, the 1970s), Jackson and Sharpton are sad anachronisms who have yet to move past this dead-end public personae.

Steele even admits that, at one time, "challenging" was a posture he would assume for his own amusement and always reveled in its success as a rhetorical tool. It, invariably, enabled him to win arguments and made whites squirm with guilt and deference to his authority on racial matters. However, unlike the Reverends Jackson and Sharpton, however, Steele grew weary of accusations that, to him, were increasingly hollow and self-serving. He moved on and grew out of that motif years ago. It may be that the decreasing influence of Sharpton and Jackson might be directly related to their failure to take a similar step beyond "challenging" as a starting point for all interracial communications.

While it is clear to anyone who takes the time to examine the behaviors and the successes involved (contrasting, for example, the influence of Ms. Winfrey versus Rev. Jackson) these two "masks" of racial posturing continue to exist, nevertheless. The tragedy is not that Steele categorizes people of color with these artificial terms; the tragedy is that black citizens feel they are bound to behave in one of these ways in order to achieve recognition and success in our society. The abandonment of self and one's personal ideals is an immense price to pay for the chance at success.

The author turns a beautiful phrase when he writes:

"[Obama's candidacy]...asks the American democracy to complete itself, to achieve that almost perfect transparency in which color is, indeed, no veil over character - where a black, like a white, can put himself forward as the individual he truly is."

When we can reach this cultural chimera, we will be truly a nation of one people. It is with this great hope that Steele finds Obama such a refreshing personality in national politics. With his charisma and a maturity beyond his years, Obama seems to voters, at least within the Democratic Party, to be as close to a perfect candidate as there might be. He appears to be a candidate that can unite voters of all races into a new sense of nationalism and, maybe - just maybe - finally heal the long-festering wounds of America’s history of racism.

But for all the promise and possibilities Senator Obama embodies as a candidate for the office of the most powerful man in the world, Steele sees a problem with him as a national candidate. In Dr. Steele’s view, he is walking a very narrow and precarious tightrope that will become threadlike and even less steady as the 2008 election season progresses. Because he must balance society’s perception of roles - "masks" if you will - as a "challenger" for the black race, a "bargainer" for the support of the white race and all the shades between, Senator Obama is a "bound man" and doomed, inevitably, (at least according to Steele) to fail.

By "Bound Man", I think that Shelby Steele sees Senator Obama as a tragic figure, held hostage by seemingly undying racial identification. The mentality of 21^st century "tribalism" (the "us versus them" primeval mind set appears, tragically, to be encoded so firmly in our most ancient DNA) lives on, despite the evolution of our culture and our decades of enlightenment.

The hypersensitivity that still exists in America to race was revealed way back in February, 2007 when a fellow Democratic Presidential candidate dared to describe Obama in the following manner:

"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."

This seemingly innocuous comment (incidently, it was made by Senator Joseph Biden, D-Delaware) ignited a brush fire of controversy. To those of us naive in the nuances of racial buzzwords, it seemed like a compliment of the first order from an opponent. Unfortunately, it had a run in the news media with the obligate public apology from Sen. Biden and a call from the Senator to apologize to Obama for any offense. Ever the self-appointed Chief Arbiter of the "racial police," Jesse Jackson got involved. It is this racial minefield that awaits both the opponents of Obama and the Senator, himself. For, when one can describe someone as being "articulate and bright and clean" and still be labeled as being racist, we are destined for some scripted, muted and unproductive discourse at a time when we desperately need honesty and forthrightness. Race is the "elephant in the room" that will continue to plague the 2008 elections.

The tragedy of it all (worthy of Shakespeare) is that race, really, has absolutely nothing to do with Senator Obama’s candidacy. It is, primarily, the fault of the media who sees a story in every phrase, every inflection and every word choice. The media will make race an issue in the 2008 primaries and the actual election regardless of its importance for the average voter. Personally, I couldn’t care less about any candidate’s race; on the other hand, I care deeply what a candidate plans to do in office. I do not base my support or lack of support on the melanin content of a candidate’s skin or the texture of their hair. I would have voted quickly and easily for Colin Powell or Condolezza Rice for the highest office in the land without a single thought of their race. I simply feel both would make wonderful and effective national leaders. I would do so because I share their philosophies and their ideology. Race would not have entered my thought processes for a single second.

And, since we are encouraging honesty here, I wouldn’t vote for Senator Obama if he were a white, black, Hispanic, Native American, or "other". Nor would I vote for him if he was a Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green Party or affiliated with any other political party. I simply do not agree with his political views. He is more liberal than Hillary Clinton and is only slightly less a socialist than John Edwards who, incidently, I would also never vote for - and he is a Southern white.

In the final analysis, "A Bound Man" is a cogent examination of the long road that still lay ahead of us in race relations. We have come far but, still, there are yet miles and miles yet to go. The simple fact that a young black male is a viable candidate (he just won in the Iowa caucus) for the highest office in the land is - in and of itself - a positive and seismic step forward. The supposition that he will likely not receive his Party’s nomination takes nothing away from importance of that. In my own view, I believe Senator Clinton will be the likely Democratic candidate for President in 2008. And, if that does, indeed, come to pass, I hope she selects Senator Obama as her running mate. A Vice-Presidential candidacy is nothing to sneeze at and, in my humble opinion, will be a major step forward for the nation and its healing process.

Baby steps are entirely acceptable when dealing with a centuries-old and firmly entrenched human frailty. And racism is just that.