Beauty and Poltics: Obama and Clinton vie for votes in SC Beauty shops

[illinoisprogressive]

Another striking theme that emerged in the interviews was how often these women described an almost maternal concern for Mr. Obama’s safety, which they take seriously by noting that he was given Secret Service protection in May, earlier than any presidential candidate ever except Mrs. Clinton, who already had protection as a former first lady. The assertion this year by Mr. Obama’s wife, Michelle, that as a black man he could be shot “going to the gas station” has done little to quell their fear.

This was a topic in Carrie’s Magic Touch. One customer, Maria Hewett, 63, a retired factory worker, told the others she would probably vote for Mr. Obama despite her fear that he could be a target.

“Things happened with presidents in the past, and they weren’t African-Americans,” Ms. Hewett said, sitting in one of two big barber chairs, her hair in curlers. “President Kennedy was a good person, and somebody took him down,” she said, prompting a chorus of “that’s true, that’s true.”

snip-

Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a Democratic state representative from Orangeburg, S.C., who has not endorsed anyone in the primary, said she had heard black women say they were afraid for Mr. Obama. “This really troubled me,” Ms. Cobb-Hunter said. “Maybe it’s a Southern thing. They want to protect him from the bad people, and in order to protect him, they won’t support him. They want to see him around, making a difference.”

snip-

For many women, Mr. Obama’s safety and Mrs. Clinton’s husband were only part of the equation. They said they were also trying to calculate whether a black man or a white woman had a better chance of being elected. Which would encounter more resistance from the white male power structure? Would a black man stir up racial tensions that would boomerang and set African-Americans back?

“I think it will be difficult for either one of them to hold that position because there are still so many inequalities that exist, especially here in the South,” said Angel Clark, 42, a health career counselor who had just finished a walk in Columbia, S.C., with thousands of others, mostly women, to raise awareness of breast cancer. She is still undecided.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/us/politics/14carolina.html?pagewanted=2&ref=politics

[bigdarryl]

1. AFRAID for Obama these women are full of SHIT sounds like there making an excuse to support there ..

gender candidate because she's a female.

[cuke]

2. I seriously doubt that every black women in that place does the same exact things

for the same exact reasons.

[sandnsea]

3. It's about Bill

But, Ms. Thomas pointed out, “She does have Bill,” whereupon she and her friend burst into laughter. “I hate to bring him up,” Ms. Thomas said sheepishly, “but I do like Bill, and it’s a way to get him back.”