What did you expect what happened when Joe Biden declared his candidacy for president?

I think I expected it to go pretty much as it's gone.

Dahlia Lithwick writes about Washington and the law for Slate.

High name recognition.

He is a meme.

You know, the sunglasses guy.

People just kind of have this deep fondness.

To be honest, Dahlia is pretty fond of Biden, too.

Even some of the stuff that other people drag him for, like that video he put out announcing his candidacy. She was kind of into it. I think his Charlottesville ad was freaking beautiful.

We can't forget what happened in Charlottesville. Even more important, we have to remember

who we are. This is America.

And I thought it was powerful.

At the same time, I guess I thought he had 20 years, 28 years, to figure out what his answer was on Anita Hill.

And did I expect him to just blow it and then go on the view and blow it again and then go on national television and blow it again? No, I expected him to have given this meaningful thought.

And whatever it is he's doing doesn't feel like he's processed what happened.

Back in 1991, when a law professor named Anita Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment,

it was Joe Biden who got to make the call about what happened next.

He was the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time.

Looking back,

almost no one thinks he did a very good job. And he spent the last week apologizing for that.

You reached out to Anita Hill. She has recently said, when asked if she felt it was an apology that you had extended, she said, no, she said, I cannot be satisfied by simply saying,

I'm sorry for what happened to you.

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