The press finally got its chance to question Biden, and the president emerged mostly unscathed

New York (CNN) — For nearly an hour Thursday evening, President Joe Biden went toe-to-toe with the press corps — and, perhaps against the wishes of some in his own party, managed to exit the high stakes showdown mostly unscathed.

Fielding a barrage of tough questions, Biden addressed 11 outlets during his closely watched dance with the news media, reiterating again and again that he plans to stay in the 2024 race, while also displaying an impressive command of complex foreign policy matters.

Stylistically, Biden wasn’t without flaws. After introducing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as Vladimir Putin earlier in the day, Biden accidentally referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as Donald Trump. And throughout the affair, the 81-year-old president mostly spoke in his now trademark low and monotone voice.

But, unquestionably, the Biden that showed up at the conclusion of the NATO summit was not the same Biden that walked onstage at the CNN presidential debate two weeks ago. Did he ace Thursday’s test? Probably not. But did he score a passing grade? Most definitely.

Interest in Biden’s face-off with the news media had been steadily growing all week as lawmakers and other high-profile figures in the Democratic Party called for him to step aside and abandon his bid for a second term. Since his disastrous debate with Trump, Biden had not appeared unscripted at a public event for such a lengthy period of time. And, stepping further back, Biden had not held a solo press conference since November, making Thursday’s his first of 2024.

The press was eager for an opportunity to confront Biden. As CNN’s Hadas Gold reported Thursday, journalists who cover the White House were walking into the news conference with a significant amount of pent up frustration. Reporters have felt stonewalled and misled by the White House. They had been earnestly seeking a forum in which they could directly question Biden about his fitness for office and desires to seek an additional four years.

The truth is that, despite their pointed questions, reporters extracted little from Biden on Thursday evening. He stayed on message and was able to keep up with the unrelenting stream of queries directed his way. Outside his early flub referring to Harris as Trump, Biden showed a deep understanding of the issues. It was not the senile, dementia-plagued man that has been at times portrayed to the American public.

As Bill Carter, the veteran media critic, pointed out on X, it’s curious why Biden did not actually hold such a press conference in the immediate wake of his poor debate performance to assuage concerns and stop the bleeding sooner. It would have mattered a lot more then.

But at this late stage, will it stop naysayers, who have been steadily gaining momentum, from calling on him to withdraw from the race?

CNN’s Manu Raju reported after the press conference that it is unlikely to. Indeed, Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, issued a statement after the news conference saying he believed Biden should drop out of the race.

But it could get a lot worse. CBS News’ Margaret Brennan reported that four Democratic sources told her “they expect dozens of Democratic lawmakers over the next 48 hours to issue statements” calling on Biden to step aside. And CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere and Jeff Zeleny reported that Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi have been speaking about their concerns with Biden’s campaign.

In other words, at this juncture, while the performance Biden delivered at the much-hyped news conference was strong, it may simply be too late. Time will tell.

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