Like I said CarolC, if you haven't read his books, you are missing a considerable part of the debate on race relations in the US in the last 20 years. His writings and opinions are not perceived by anyone involved in the critical dialogues on race as either "overly simplistic" or "rather childish", so that really lessens my respect for your opinions to hear you make such impudent claims.

I also think you are wrong in your opinion that he is the prototype bargainer. Like I said, I disagree with the majority of his conservative political opinions. But his opinions about race and his contributions to the discourse over the past 20 years puts him right on the same level as Henry Louis Gates, bell hooks, or Amiri Baraka.

To say you aren't an Obama supporter, but an Obama voter is pretty disingenuous IMO, and I'm disappointed to hear you make such claims. You are often one of the more intelligent thinkers in this forum, and an articulate person generally. But your opinions on the whole Obama/Clinton thing are pretty muddy.