When former Vice President Joe Biden and his allies were called upon to justify the many, many instances of his inappropriate touching of women, there was a common theme: He's just a touchy-feely kind of guy who has, in his own words, "offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support and comfort."
On Thursday night, that support and comfort was missing entirely when Sen. Kamala Harris confronted him directly with a heartfelt and personal story about how his words had hurt her. She told it directly, honestly, and with very real emotion in her voice. "I do not believe you are a racist," she said to start. "And I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground.
"But I also believe, and it's personal and actually it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on segregation of race in this country." It was a galvanizing moment, when real, raw emotion and pain came through in her voice and her demeanor. She emphasized the point with her very personal story. "There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day, and that little girl was me," she said. "So I will tell you that, on this subject, it cannot be an intellectual debate among Democrats. We have to take it seriously. We have to act swiftly."
Did Biden even acknowledge her as a person in that story, the fact that, whether he meant them to or not, his words had caused her real pain? Nope. The first words out of his mouth after Harris’ statement were, "That's a mischaracterization of my position across the board. I did not praise racists. It is not true." There was not even a glimmer of acknowledgment of her experience, her pain. He continued on to say, falsely, "I did not oppose busing in America. What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education. That's what I opposed." (He wrote in his 2007 memoir, "I was against busing to remedy de facto segregation owing to housing patterns and community comfort, but if it was intentional segregation, I’d personally pay for helicopters to move the children.")
The exchange definitely exposed the core of the problem Biden has running in 2019 on the issue of race, which he made central to his campaign launch in that video in which he gave a powerful statement condemning the rise of white supremacy and Trump's refusal to disavow it. His record on race is not great. But the exchange also exposed another problem that Biden has in this run: namely, a lack of preparation. He should have known that the issue would be coming and that Harris would lead it, and he should have been ready. It highlights that, in general, he's not ready for this—he's not going to have this nomination handed to him and hasn't seemed to realize that yet.
Biden's past runs for president have been lackadaisical and uninspired. That hasn't changed a whole lot, with his rationale being almost entirely, "You loved Barack Obama, so here I am." He wants to continue to be beloved "Uncle Joe," the kindly, affable guy who feels your pain and will give you an unasked-for hug because he just can't help himself. That guy didn't show up last night, even though he was given the opportunity on a silver platter from Harris. He had the chance to mend some fences and to reinforce his good guy image. Instead, he got defensive and combative, and he lied. That's a disastrous debut for Biden 2020.