Heilemann: Biden’s Speech Yesterday Was a ‘Striking Moment in His Transition’

EXCERPT:

HEILEMANN: “But Joe Biden yesterday, I really was struck by that speech. It was a very un-Biden speech. By that I mean he really made a point of I thought going — you know, I think you guys alluded to this a little bit this morning. It was confrontational. He was there to send a message, which I think was, you know, there was a certain amount of personal frustration I think that  came through in that speech. You could easily have imagined Biden just doing what Biden often does, which is to focus on unity, to kind of moving past all the unpleasantness, but instead he really drew a line in the sand yesterday and sort of said, 'You know, I’m taking names here. I’m going to call out these Republican attorneys general. I’m going to call out these people who tried to...' And he didn’t use the word coup although he came pretty close. I do think part of this was to send a message to many people in his own party who suggested that Joe Biden is going to be a patsy for Republicans and too willing to compromise. I think that was part of Joe Biden that was telling Democrats, particularly the progressive wing of the party, 'Hey, you know what, I do want to compromise and I do want national unity, but I also understand the nature of the threat and the nihilism on display in this party. I'm taking names and I will insist on some accountability for what Republicans under the leadership of Donald Trump did in this post-election period. I thought it was a very striking moment in this Biden transition."