A self-refuting blog post

Last week, Andrew Sullivan quoted a reader who asked the question:

And would strong support of Obama be a sort of repudiation of Black conservative Republicans, who have had the courage to completely repudiate black victimhood-speak?

Sullivan's response was:

Agreed. And this tension is partly why Shelby Steele cannot bring himself to back Obama. But Obama has definitely pushed the boundaries against victimology within the context of the black Democratic caucus. And that has to be a good thing all round in the end.

This argument is about as racist as an author can be without throwing around pejoratives. It is also self-refuting: if Barack Obama really is as enlightened on racial issues as Andrew Sullivan claims, then Obama would certainly never expect Black conservatives like Shelby Steele to vote for him out of a sense of racial solidarity. Even Andrew Sullivan's own "conservatism of doubt" argues against his position here: shouldn't a conservative of doubt admit the possibility that Shelby Steele really is a sincere political conservative?