President Joe Biden did pretty well at his press conference Thursday night, and that may have disappointed a lot of Democrats. They were probably hoping for one of two outcomes: either that he would do badly, making it easier to persuade him to drop out of the race—or that he would knock it out of the park, allaying their concerns, making them think that maybe he can stay in and win the election after all.

Instead, he did … fine. Had the catastrophic debate two weeks ago not happened, this press conference would not have made a dent. It might not even have been broadcast in primetime; certainly the cable news panels wouldn’t have spent hours, before and after, scrutinizing every line.

A little before the press conference, as the three-day NATO summit came to an end, Biden introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but called him “President Putin” (though he recovered and corrected himself in seconds). During the press conference, he referred to “Vice President Harris” as “Vice President Trump.” A reporter asked him afterward if this didn’t prove he wasn’t in great mental condition.

C’mon. These are the sorts of mental hiccups that everyone lets out now and then. It doesn’t necessarily mean squat. But because of the debate, every Biden speech, press conference, debate, or random conversation will be placed under a microscope, every stumble or stutter underlined,........

© Slate