Joe Biden let the staff at Gianni's Pizza in Wilmington, Delaware, know that he wants a slice of the action yesterday. Photo / AP
Declaring the "soul of this nation" at stake, former US Vice-President Joe Biden pushed into the crowded 2020 presidential contest yesterday and quickly sparked a fierce debate over the direction of the modern-day Democratic Party.
Ignoring the political noise in his own party, Biden aimed directly at President Donald Trump in an announcement video seizing on the Republican President's response to the deadly clash between white supremacists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, two years ago. That was the spur for him to launch a third presidential bid, Biden said, noting Trump's comments that there were some "very fine people" on both sides of the violent encounter, which left one woman dead.
"We are in the battle for the soul of this nation," Biden declared. "If we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation — who we are. And I cannot stand by and watch that happen."
Yet Biden will get a chance to take on Trump only if he survives a Democratic field that now spans at least 20 contenders. And his party's more liberal wing was far from welcoming in the hours immediately after he declared his candidacy.
Justice Democrats, a group created from the remnants of Bernie Sanders' failed 2016 campaign, came out against Biden and spent much of the day assailing him on social media.
As an older white man with often centrist views, Biden must now prove he's not out of step with Democrats trying to push the party to the left.
In recent weeks he has moved to clean up perceived missteps from his long record in elected office, including his role as a senator in allowing sexual harassment accuser Anita Hill to be grilled by an all-male committee during Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
A campaign aide said Biden, 76, has privately contacted Hill to share "his regret for what she endured and his admiration for everything she has done to change the culture around sexual harassment in this country". But the New York Times reported yesterday that Hill said in an interview that she was deeply unsatisfied and unconvinced by his apology.
Biden has also highlighted his role in authoring the Violence Against Women Act nearly three decades ago, legislation that is credited with reducing domestic violence nationwide.
Still, his political liabilities are many. He would be the oldest person ever elected president — Trump was 70 in 2016 — even as his party embraces a new generation of diversity. He has yet to outline his positions on issues defining the 2020 Democratic primary, most notably "Medicare for All", the universal healthcare plan authored by Sanders that has been embraced in one form or another by virtually the entire Democratic field.
Biden is betting that his working-class appeal and ties to Barack Obama's presidency will help him win over sceptics. He quickly racked up endorsements yesterday, becoming the first Democrat running for President with the backing of more than one US senator.
Democratic Representative Cedric Richmond, who previously served as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said he had urged the former Vice-President to run and highlighted Biden's potential electability when asked to assess African Americans' feelings. "Black voters are saying the same thing that white Democrats are saying: We can't afford to lose. That is a big message. That's a big motivator," Richmond said.
Obama has declined to endorse Biden, however, and several former Obama aides are working for other candidates. Biden said yesterday: "I asked President Obama not to endorse. Whoever wins this nomination should win it on their own merits."
While he didn't endorse, Obama took the unusual step of weighing in on yesterday's announcement.
"President Obama has long said that selecting Joe Biden as his running mate in 2008 was one of the best decisions he ever made," Obama spokeswoman Katie Hill said. "He relied on the Vice-President's knowledge, insight and judgment throughout both campaigns and the entire presidency. The two forged a special bond over the last 10 years and remain close today."
Trump was quick to pounce on Biden, who he has nicknamed "Sleepy Joe". "I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign," Trump said. "It will be nasty — you will be dealing with people who truly have some very sick & demented ideas. But if you make it, I will see you at the Starting Gate."
Privately, Trump allies have warned that Biden might be the biggest re-election threat given the former Vice-President's potential appeal among the white working class in the Midwest, the region that gave Trump a path to the presidency.
At a Philadelphia fundraiser yesterday, Biden said of the Trump era: "I'm hoping that in a couple years, we'll look back and say — whether it is me or anybody else replacing him — that this is an aberration in American history, this four years, because it's not who we are."
Biden will hold his first public event as a 2020 presidential candidate in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Biden's first media appearance was set for today on ABC's The View.
As Biden neared his campaign launch, his challenges came into greater focus. He struggled last month to respond to claims that he touched 2014 Nevada lieutenant governor nominee Lucy Flores' shoulders and kissed the back of her head before a campaign event. A handful of other women have made similar claims, though none has alleged sexual misconduct.
Biden, a former US senator from Delaware, pledged in an online video to be "much more mindful" of respecting personal space but joked two days later that he "had permission" to hug a male union leader before addressing the group's national conference.
On another issue he'll have to address throughout the campaign, Biden once played a key role in anti-crime legislation that had a disproportionately negative impact on African Americans. And last month he struggled to explain comments he made as a freshman senator in 1975 about the school busing debate. At the time Biden forcefully opposed the Government's role in trying to integrate schools, saying he favoured desegregation, but believed busing did not achieve equal opportunity.
Joe Biden's decision to enter the Democratic presidential race is causing consternation among some Democrats, particularly women of colour, who have been hoping for a nominee who better reflects the nation's diversity.
At the She the People forum, billed as the first presidential forum focused on women of colour, Roxy D. Hall Williamson's shoulders slumped at the mention of Biden.
"I know that we have been cultured to feel that only the white man can save us," the LaMarque, Texas, organiser said. "I just don't feel like Biden is our answer."
Biden's candidacy is likely to reshape the Democratic race, which has put the party's diversity on display. The group of eight 2020 hopefuls who spoke at the forum was comprised of one black man, one black woman, three other women, a Latino man and two white men, all making the case for why they should be the nominee.
Black female voters will play a critical role in the Democratic Party's attempt to defeat President Donald Trump in 2020. An inability to earn their support in past cycles has spelled political peril for Democratic candidates.
The raucous, standing-room crowd in the 1800-person capacity auditorium at the historically black Texas Southern University listened intently as the candidates were questioned about maternal mortality, immigration, tribal sovereignty, income inequality and other issues. Attending were Senator Cory Booker, former Obama Cabinet member Julian Castro, Representative Tulsi Gabbard, Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Amy Klobuchar, former Representative Beto O'Rourke, Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren.
LaTosha Brown, the co-founder of Black Voters Matter, said she was initially eager for Biden to enter the race but now sees "strong alternatives" to him. "I'm over white men running the country," Brown said. "I don't know if him getting in changes the field. He has name recognition, but his strength is also his weakness. Who is his announcing going to surprise?"
She added: "To ignite the kind of base that needs to be ignited to beat Trump, I'm not sure he moves them."
In interviews, black women repeatedly pointed to a singular issue plaguing Biden's candidacy: His handling of the 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Clarence Thomas and the Senate Judiciary Committee's treatment of Anita Hill, a black professor who faced a panel of white male lawmakers about her sexual harassment allegations against Thomas. Biden, then a US Senator from Delaware, was the committee's chairman.
Williamson said that she was "still salty" about the role Biden played in the hearing and that "it wasn't okay then and it's not okay now".
Adoneca Fortier, 55, said that she hoped that Biden would more fully address his role in the hearings, perhaps by extending a personal apology to Hill.
Biden's deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said Biden had spoken to Hill and expressed his regret but Hill told the New York Times that she was left feeling deeply unsatisfied and unconvinced that he has accepted the harm for what he's done.
Cherisse Scott, 44, of Memphis, said the issue is "bigger than Anita Hill". "Though we supported President Obama, I think we still wanted to see more happening on behalf of black and brown communities, specifically black communities," Scott said.
"I think Joe Biden's great. I think Joe Biden was a hell of a Vice-President. But I wouldn't vote for him for president."
Cynthia Dismuke, 53, of Houston, is undecided on a candidate in 2020 but finds Biden's openness to a female running mate attractive. Nevertheless, she was one of many women at the event who came away impressed with Warren, saying, "She's not making promises. She has a plan.
"I don't necessarily want another white male ticket," Dismuke said. "I want to see who's going to get Trump out of office."
Leah Daughtry, CEO of the 2016 Democratic National Convention, said the forum was a testament to the strength of black women at the polls.
"We show up and we make the difference in any election," said Daughtry, the forum's honorary co-chair. "We aren't interested in the flash. We want to know: What are you going to do? What are your policies that are going to impact our lives?"
- AP
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