By EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE
09/21/2015 05:05 AM EDT
If Joe Biden gets into the presidential race, allies and supporters of Hillary Clinton say there are just two words that will make a difference as he seeks support among women and African-Americans: Anita Hill.
Nearly 24 years have passed since the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in which Hill, a respected law professor, was grilled under oath about alleged inappropriate sexual behavior by Thomas, her former boss. The graphic testimony gripped Washington and the country and spurred intense public conversations about sex, harassment and the nominee’s charge of being subjected to a “high-tech lynching for uppity blacks.’’
Biden’s done a lot over the past 24 years, including authoring the landmark Violence Against Women Act and leading its four reauthorizations. But that hasn’t erased the memories of how Biden presided over those hearings as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, blamed for doing little to stop the attacks on Hill and opting not to call three other witnesses who would have echoed Hill’s charges of sexual harassment. Biden almost apologetically gave Thomas the benefit of the doubt, critics say, and that stance helped put Thomas on the Supreme Court.
Ever since, for many women and blacks, Hill’s name conjures an image of a black woman struggling under attack by a dozen powerful white men asking aggressive questions and questioning her character.
If Biden decides to run for president, his path to the Democratic nomination requires him to stand in the way of the woman who could be the first female president — and issues of sex and gender will be on the table whether either side likes it or not.
Moreover, Biden’s campaign strategy, if he decides to run, will hinge on the South Carolina primary, where African-Americans make up enough of the Democratic electorate to decide the winner. And he’ll need to capture a significant share of the black vote in other states as well to have a chance in what would likely be a long and tough fight for Democrats through next spring.
Dredging up what was seen as Biden’s subjecting an African-American woman to public humiliation and abuse could erode his support among women and blacks. And raising the question of whether he can be blamed for the confirmation of Thomas — now one of the most rigidly conservative members of the high court — has the potential to cut at the vice president’s support among Democrats more broadly, especially with Clinton now making a regular talking point of her prediction that the next president might have up to three Supreme Court appointments.
