Thomas was an embarrassment, but not to the President. He was am embarassment to the Democratics because so many middle-class blacks testified on his behalf, late into the evening. The only blacks Dems want to see, quite literally, are barefoot, pregnant, and ill-educated. The Thomas hearings threw them for a loop, and so they brought out every smear they could think of. Harriet doesn't need to be smeared by Dems; she is weak among conservative Reps. And this issue will not go away. It will only grow.
Who cares about the Democrats, he passed by a small margin and today we consider him one of the finer Justices on the SCOTUS.