While you're right that a justice retiring and dying are not equivalent, be honest, you know it was mostly done for the interest of the party. I don't blame Biden for it. That a justice "shouldn't try to usurp the will of the people by timing their retirement" isn't incredibly far off from Republicans saying that it should wait until the next president so the people can decide. Obviously though the people already decided when they voted in 2012 and 2014. Can presidents even stop judges from retiring? I wonder if it's even possible for Congress to set a rule to wait until a new session. If Biden "didn't want the entire campaign be a referendum on a nominee specifically" then he should be saying that now.
Furthermore,
Obama has said he regrets attempting to filibuster Alito. Well I've seen multiple news outlets use that term but can't find a direct quote.
Even back then he didn't like the idea of blocking a nominee
but he was going to do it anyway:
The key difference being he felt Democrats did a bad job explaining why. Republicans will not even consider anyone.
What I'm really getting at is what Obama said:
It's not a one-to-one equivalency, but you shouldn't try to dispute the similarities.