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

True but....no thanks!

The challenges Obama faced as outlined by the author, while indeed are true (we've all heard "oh he's not really black" or "he's not like the other ones" or worse yet "he's not black enough") are clearly able to be overcome as evidenced by Obama's landslide victory. Not to mention the success of balck people everywhere. Those very challenges need to be acknowledged, but can never be used by black people as a reason NOT to strive and achieve the previoulsy "un-achievable" in mainstream society.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Sociological analysis, not psychoanalytical

Having just seen/heard the author describe his thinking in this book on NPR, and answer a variety of questions from Cody's Book Store in Berkley, I was somewhat amused by a reviewer who does not understand what the author is saying and somehow confuses psychoanalysis with sociological analysis. Clearly, the title's use of the word 'bound' reflects the authors concept of the two 'masks' heretofore required (either one or the other) for African Americans to succeed in this society. This is a sociological construct reminiscent of Goffman's book 'Asylums.' The reader who cavalierly dismisses this book or reads it through his or her own perceptual mask, misses the point of the book and an opportunity to engage in an intellectual diaglogue on the politics of substantive change.

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

obviously...

well obviously he won the election so......................your book is about what again?...

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Is that why this book is on the bargain list?

Yes we can ! Yes he did! We can't change what happened...it was terrible. Stop looking back...look and move forward with a know ledge of the past. Seems to me that you are BOUND by the past.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Did I miss something

Very convoluted, more on the guilt put upon the white race rather on the whys and wherefores of Obama getting elected as the title indicates. Nothing new, not worth the price.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

I hope you will enjoy eating crow!

This book reminds me of my favorite Chinese proverb: 'The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.' The mere fact that so many people are trying to stop him, lends credence to the notion that he can and will win. He is on his way as we speak!

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

ENOUGH with the defeatists!

Obama CAN win this election. I've had enough of people saying he can't win because he's black. Call me an optimist, but I believe we have come a long way in this country and people will rise up behind Obama and push him to the top. There are still problems, of course, with the divison of the races and the imbalance between rich and poor. But his success is already happening! To say he 'can't win' is ridiculous and I don't believe it for a second. OBAMA '08! YES WE CAN!

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

I won't buy the book

I won't even buy the book based on the title alone. This author is the exact type of person the world needs less of. Dream Killers I call them. He tries to justify it with some weak psychoanalysis. If he truly believes his own words then he should just keep it to himself. Speaking words of defeat doesn't help anyone. Black, white, red or brown. What good does it do? So he can say 'I told you so' after the elections. Like I said all words aren't helpful to society and this is a perfect example.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

The same old bad psychoanalysis of Black folk...

Steele is a school trained English teacher attempting to apply the bad psychoanalysis he concocted in his first two books. Steele does not break new ground.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A reviewer

Shelby Steele's interesting book about Obama being 'bound' seems to overlook the fact that people of goodwill typically see several sides 'or both sides' to an issue. I have no problem if Obama can see the innocence 'as Steele calls it' of whites without racial prejudice at the same time he can see the burden of history of white supremacy. Both are at work in American society. I will have no problem if Obama addresses the issue of race in America in both ways. I think many of all races see both sides to this issue.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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