The Democrats’ best hope going into the press conference on Thursday night was that the performance of President Biden would provide a definitive answer as to his mental fitness, and bring the civil war brewing within the party to an end.

One way to achieve this was a miraculously good night that stopped the revolt among Democrats, or, on the other side of the spectrum a complete collapse by Biden, which produced the groundswell necessary to force him to withdraw from the race. This would allow Democrats the opportunity to select a successor as quickly as possible.

Biden’s performance was a compromise that satisfied both his critics as well as his defenders. This will ensure that the debate about his disastrous performance in the debate, which is now two weeks old, continues.

Biden’s negative response was a bit raspy, with a lot of long pauses. He called Vice President Kamala Harris Vice President Trump, after having confused Russian dictator Vladimir Putin with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He also claimed to be taking advice from his commander-in-chief, referred a nonexistent federal broad rent control program, and spoke about the need to pace himself better. He said that his staff gave him a list to call and he scolded them for adding so many events to his calendar.

He also answered questions for over an hour. In some cases, he gave long and detailed answers.

After the debate I mentioned that aging isn’t a linear process. In a state where the mind is declining, elderly people can have bad moments or good ones. Democrats who are afraid of sticking with Biden know that it is only a matter time before he has another bad moment. But as long as Biden produces good moments, it will be difficult to replace him as the nominee.