Steve Gilliard's take on the Mr. Motley's puff piece was purely political, explaining why his quoted aspirations to public office are probably futile .

The problem with Motley is not his not liking rap, or other so-called "interests" of black people, but his allegiance to white conservatives and his obviously lack of comfort with black social life.

Church's? He'd never been to a black restaurant? That's weird. Churches is not black food. And even worse, he was afraid to be seen in Church's.

Make no mistake, as personally happy as his friends and family are for his success, they don't trust or like his politics and none of them agree with him.

The article has more than enough evidence Steve is right. That discomfort I noticed in Mr. Motley's poignant personal narrative is returned to him by the people in his life.

Motley has said to White House officials -- as well as power brokers in Alabama -- that he may return to Alabama after his tenure in the Bush administration. "These people have said to me whatever it is I want to do, they're willing to help me," Motley says. "I'm trying to decide what I want to do."

He may run for office at some point. He wants to keep outrunning labels. "There are still some people in this community who are not overly anxious to embrace Eric," says Solomon Seay, "even though he has gotten to where he's at in life."

Read the items Steve picked up on. It's pretty sad.