Gen. Colin Powell's endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama has triggered a new round of introspection by political observers. Duke University sociology and political science professors are available to comment on various aspects of this issue:

-- Kerry L. Haynie, a political science professor at Duke, says Obama has been unable to broach the topic of bias against Muslim Americans the way Powell did in his endorsement.

"No candidate wants to be seen openly courting Muslim votes, although they very much want and need them," says Haynie. "There is a long history of white Democrats behaving in a similar way toward blacks. For example, they never wanted to be photographed with Jesse Jackson, but they wanted all the black and brown voters he registered to vote for them.

"Muslim Americans may be the new African-Americans in American politics. Both political parties are afraid to embrace Muslim-American voters like they are afraid to reach out for black voters. Statistics show that if political parties rely on or reach out to black voters, they ultimately lose white voters."

-- Jen'nan Read, an associate professor of sociology and global health at Duke, argues that Powell's comments about Muslims could be a turning point for the negative rhetoric that has marked the campaign.

"Colin Powell is the first voice on either side of the aisle to articulate a point that is long overdue by decisively stating that it is un-American to use the term ‘Muslim' to discredit and slander a presidential candidate," says Read, a Carnegie scholar who is currently studying the political integration and activity of U.S. Muslims.

"Since 9/11, Muslims have been vilified and generalized as a monolithic group tied to Islamic extremism. The reality is that Muslims are very much like the rest of the American public -- generally diverse and politically integrated, and in step with the rest of the American public on today's most divisive political issues. It is important to know the facts about Muslim Americans before lumping them all into one group."

-- Paula D. McClain, a professor of political science, public policy and African and African American studies, finds some of the recent media commentary to be offensive.

"What it says is that if a prominent black American -- one who is of the opposite political party and has served two Republican administrations -- after a great deal of deliberation comes out in favor of the black presidential candidate, that it has to be racial," says McClain. "What all of these people have done is to racialize Colin Powell and his endorsement, essentially saying that regardless of his stature and past accomplishments and prominence, his skin color is the explanation, regardless of the long and eloquent argument he laid out for his endorsement."

McClain, co-director of Duke's Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Gender in the Social Sciences, says some may think Powell's endorsement can only be viewed as legitimate if he had endorsed a white candidate.

"It highlights the very racial nature of politics during this election and the continuing stain of race in the American political fabric."