SUMTER, SOUTH CAROLINA — Joe Biden will tout his civil rights record and ties to former President Barack Obama on a two-day swing through South Carolina after taking a beating from primary rival Kamala Harris on his opposition to integration busing in the 1970s.
“If you look at the issues I’ve been attacked on, nearly every one of them is for something well before 2008. It’s as if my opponents want you to believe I served from 1972 until 2008 – and then took the next eight years off. They don’t want to talk much about my time as Vice President,” read Biden’s prepared remarks for a speech he will deliver on Saturday.
Biden will use his connection to Obama to brush off the critics.
“It was the honor of a lifetime to serve with a man who was a great President, an historic figure, and most important to me – a friend,” Biden’s remarks say. “I was vetted by him and selected by him. I will take his judgment of my record, my character, and my ability to handle the job over anyone else’s.”
Harris, a California senator, attacked Biden during the first primary debate for working with segregationist senators to oppose federally mandated integration busing in the 1970s. “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. That little girl was me,” Harris said.
Following the debate, polls showed Biden’s lead slipping not only nationally but among black voters, a demographic where Biden usually commands strong support. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that support for Biden among black Democratic and independent voters fell by half after the debate, from about 4 in 10 earlier in June to 2 in 10 in the days after the late June debate.
Black voters made up a majority of voters in South Carolina’s 2016 Democratic primary, which hosts the fourth statewide nominating contest for the party’s presidential nomination. Winning over the demographic is considered crucial to not only winning the state, but the Democratic presidential nomination.
Biden admitted in CNN interview that aired Friday he “wasn’t prepared” for the way Harris went on the offensive against him. In his South Carolina remarks, Biden addresses his long career and hints at past shortcomings.
“America in 2019 is a very different place than the America of the 1970s. And that’s a good thing. I’ve witnessed an incredible amount of change in this nation, and I’ve worked to make that change happen. And yes — I’ve changed also,” the remarks say.
