In do-or-die mode, Biden does neither

Joe Biden's foreign allies left town on Thursday. His allies at home, meanwhile, closed in for the political kill. 

Swarmed by a domestic political crisis, the embattled U.S. president held a rare, unscripted and free-wheeling news conference to close out this week's NATO summit.

The event was carried live across TV networks as a do-or-die moment for Biden's campaign, as numerous Democrats weigh whether to join the dozen-plus lawmakers publicly pressing him to drop out of the presidential campaign, amid doubts about his age and abilities.

In this do-or-die moment, what did Biden deliver? Something in between, a not-too-hot, not-too-cold performance, like his recent ABC interview, that leaves his allies floundering forward in a state of prolonged purgatory.

"I think it's important to allay fears by letting them see me out there," Biden said, when asked about those doubts.

Here's what they saw: an aging president dropping cringe-inducing clunkers. He referred to Donald Trump as his vice-president, after earlier in the day drawing gasps at the summit by introducing Ukraine's president as "President Putin," before correcting himself.

But they also saw the president deliver lengthy, substantive answers to policy questions, even if none will enter the anthologies of hallowed American oratory.

He celebrated news of softening inflation and a successful NATO conference, while excoriating Trump as a threat to democracy, the democratic alliance, and to people's pocketbooks with his promise of a 10 per cent global tariff.

But perhaps the most intriguing parts of the news conference came in fragments of answers that could be interpreted as indicating Biden not permanently, completely, ruling out resigning.

More than once, he referred flatteringly to his Vice-President Kamala Harris as eminently qualified to be president, touting her success as a prosecutor, senator and running mate.

Unfortunately for him, his first reference to Harris began with: "I wouldn't have picked Vice-President Trump to be vice-president if I think she's not qualified to be president."

The other intriguing reply came toward the end when Biden was asked whether there's anything his advisers could say to make him drop out.

After ruling it out, he added a caveat.

"No. Unless they came back and said, 'There's no way you can win,'" Biden replied, less emphatic than last week when he said only God could force him from the race.