python bitwise operations on C data types?

Is it possible to do bitwise operations on C data types in Python?

Python 2.7.1+ (r271:86832, Apr 11 2011, 18:13:53) 
[GCC 4.5.2] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> from ctypes import c_uint8
>>> foo = c_uint8(4)
>>> foo << 1
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>",开发者_StackOverflow line 1, in <module>
TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for <<: 'c_ubyte' and 'int'
>>>

Try foo.value << 1

or to update foo,

foo.value <<= 1

This works, but it isn't done at the C level:

foo.value << 1

from ctypes import c_uint8
foo = c_uint8(4)
print foo.value << 1

will print 8 as you want. To change foo, use

foo.value <<= 1