“I decided that Joe Biden needed to do something that would show a high level of respect for black women,” he said. “What higher level o...
“I decided that Joe Biden needed to do something that would show a high level of respect for black women,” he said. “What higher level of respect can there be?” »
Biden’s campaign aides remember things slightly differently. It was Ms. Fudge, they said, who first raised the issue of the promise to appoint a black woman to the Supreme Court during a meeting Mr. Biden held with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. aboard the USS Yorktown in Charleston, SC
During the meeting, the group, which included Mr. Clyburn, had a frank conversation with Mr. Biden about the state of his campaign.
“We said, ‘If you really want to be the candidate, you’re going to have to do something dramatic,'” Mr. Thompson recalled. “If you don’t win the debate, and ultimately the primary on Saturday, it’s over. .”
Ms. Fudge then told Mr. Biden that he needed to find a forum where he would commit to putting a black woman on the Supreme Court. Mr. Clyburn and Mr. Thompson agreed.
“We came out of there feeling like he was going to do it,” Mr. Thompson said.
Some of Mr. Biden’s advisers, however, believed that making such a pledge on the debate stage would be seen as complacency for black voters. During a debate prep session, Symone D. Sanders, a former black senior aide, said she didn’t think it was a good idea.
But Mr. Biden eventually made the pledge, and Mr. Clyburn’s endorsement soon followed.
The White House has not always acceded to his requests. He initially lobbied for Ms Fudge to be appointed Agriculture Secretary, but she ended up becoming Housing and Urban Development Secretary.
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