"It's a matter of timing": Biden press conference captures his eye-on-the-prize strategy
26 March 2021
President Biden revealed in vivid display this week the thinking animating his 100-day plan: Do not allow outside events to take his eye off the make-or-break imperatives of virus eradication and economic growth.
The big picture: He dispatched Vice President Harris to handle the brewing crisis at the border. And, in yesterday's press conference, he made plain gun control and other topics may need to wait.
- On gun control: "It's a matter of timing."
- "[S]uccessful presidents — better than me — have been successful, in large part, because they know how to time what they’re doing — order it, decide and prioritize what needs to be done."
Zoom out: Since his comeback in the South Carolina primary more than a year ago, Biden has been shockingly disciplined, with a robot-like focus on the virus and the economy. It is a no-brainer strategy because absent growth or virus-eradication, his presidential power wanes
- This gives him a narrow band to focus his mind and time. You saw this in his 62-minute press conference. He'll continue to push the idea of compromise — until he doesn’t, which aides tell us is inevitable.
- "Here's the deal," Biden said. "I'm a fairly practical guy. I want to get things done," the president said in explaining why he's not pushing now to eliminate the legislative filibuster, even though he sees it as a Jim Crow-era relic.
- "Successful electoral politics," Biden said, "is the art of the possible."
What to watch: His comments on voting rights were harsh and striking, and signal his appetite to fight this out, even if it means chucking the filibuster to get it done.
Biden's photo guide to reporters in the room. Photo: Oliver Contreras/Sipa USA via Reuters
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.