Michelle Obama's devastating speech

But Obama went beyond the politics of the moment. "I know it's a campaign, but this isn't about politics. It's about basic human decency. It's about right and wrong," she said. "And we simply cannot endure this, or expose our children to this any longer -- not for another minute, and let alone for four years. Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say enough is enough."

Something similar happened in 1991, when Hill, a law professor, told a panel of white, male senators about allegedly being subjected to lewd comments and behavior by Thomas -- only to encounter hostile, skeptical questioning. Hill endured the ordeal with grace... and Thomas got confirmed. But the nation was never the same.

The spectacle of disbelieving male senators badgering Hill galvanized the country. Congress swiftly passed a law making it easier for women to sue for damages in harassment cases, and the 1992 elections saw 24 women elected to Congress and four to the Senate -- including the first-ever black woman senator, Carol Moseley-Braun, one of several freshman lawmakers who cited the Hill hearings as their inspiration for running.

Women everywhere became less reluctant to speak up about harassment: in the year after Hill testified, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which tracks claims of sexual harassment, got 10,578 such complaints -- a 72% increase from the 6,126 received the year before Hill testified.

Fast-forward 25 years. In an op-ed in the Boston Globe, Hill reflected on Trump's coarse and vulgar taped remarks and concluded: "Trump's language, which he and others have tried to minimize as "locker room banter," is predatory and hostile. To excuse it as that or as youthful indiscretion or overzealous romantic interest normalizes male sexual violence."

It's safe to predict that in the months and years to come, young girls and women leaders in politics, business, science and the arts will cite Michelle Obama's speech as a touchstone that inspired them to reject abuse and demand respect. That will rank among the best outcomes of a campaign that has been petty, disappointing and increasingly bitter.