timidity

“Clemency,” they argue, “is more important than ever in an era of grossly excessive punishments and mass incarceration. Timidity is not a path to legacy.”

Like the governors who overcame such timidity and granted clemency in capital cases, President Biden, now facing the end of his time in the White House, has, as Bruenig correctly observes, “the freedom to act on his values and save dozens of lives.”

But in Ukraine, particularly in recent months, gratitude for vital backing has been mixed with resentment over perceived timidity on Washington’s part — particularly restrictions on use of long-range weaponry to strike military targets inside Russia, and a longtime pattern of denying certain types of armaments over concerns of escalation, then providing them often too late to make a difference.

His timidity is inexplicable and disappointing.

Holt became the team captain in the media’s game of feigned ignorance and real timidity.