Despite numerous missteps, Biden exceeds expectations at his first press conference in months and buys himself time as a candidate

President Joe Biden got confused and called Kamala Harris "Vice President Trump," got tangled up when he tried to explain his mistake confusing Volodymir Zelensky with Vladimir Putin, criticized his staff for adding events to his schedule and, furthermore, said he was following orders from another commander-in-chief. Despite the numerous missteps, the general feeling is that the Democratic front-runner exceeded low expectations at his first press conference in months and is buying time to stay in the presidential race.

"I’ve taken three significant and intense neurological exams by a…neurologist. In each case, as recently as February, they say I’m in good shape," Biden said, trying to dispel doubts about his cognitive abilities. "I’m tested every single day about my neurological capacity, the decisions I make every day."

In another passage, Biden said he must make an effort to present himself more in public to change perceptions about his cognitive health: "I'm determined on running, but I think it's important that I allay fears by letting them see me out there."

Still, it's unclear whether Biden's acceptable performance in front of the press is good news for the Democratic Party. In fact, some see the situation as benefiting only one person: former President Donald Trump.

"Although he stumbled and misspoke throughout, this is the strongest case Biden has been able to make for himself in substance and performance since the debate. But I don’t know that it’ll reassure skeptics enough to stem the tide moving against him within the Democratic Party," wrote journalist Olivia Nuzzi, Washington correspondent of New York magazine.

Meanwhile, anchor Ben Shapiro also wrote that Biden looked relatively capable, asserting that this is a serious problem for Democrats: "He started off rough and he’s still having rough patches…but this is good enough to keep him in the race. Which is terrible news for Democrats and excellent news for Trump."

Agreeing with Shapiro was radio host Erick Erickson: "Biden is, truthfully, doing better than he did with Stephanopoulos. Yeah, 'VP Trump,' but still sharper, louder, and more coherent. That’s a problem for the Democrats."

Moreover, The New York Times reporter Jonathan Swan describes, the Trump campaign is happy about Biden's "solid" press conference performance.

"People close to Trump are thrilled about Biden's solid enough performance. It was strong enough, they perceive/hope, to keep his candidacy alive," Swan wrote. "They foresee a landslide with Biden as their opponent and would rather not have anything happen to introduce risk, change or uncertainty. The status quo is their clear preference, even if they hardly fear Kamala Harris."

Biden's slips can still doom him

As much as there is a perception that Biden had a solid performance, or close to it, the reality is that the president has made many mistakes that will be used by his political rivals and may also serve as an excuse for skeptical Democrats who want to push him out of the election race.

At one point, Biden failed to realize that he mistook Vice President Harris for former President Trump.

"Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president [if] I think she’s not qualified to be president," Biden said.

In another passage, the president had to deny rumors that he is going to bed early, but then questioned members of his team for adding events to his busy schedule. Those words were criticized by the press who remarked that the statements were not "presidential."

"I love my staff, but they add things, they add things all the time," Biden whispered, making an odd comment about his schedule.

In another bizarre moment, the president also commented that he was following the orders of another "commander in chief," something that generated several clips and questioning on social media.

In fact, after Biden picked up the pace and consistently addressed foreign policy questions, touching on topics such as China, Israel and Ukraine, the president began to whisper constantly and raise his voice inconsistently about the end of the press conference. The situation caught the attention of critics.

"Guess what? Find me an economist who said we haven't done well?" whispered Biden to a reporter.

"Biden’s whisper thing always sounds creepy, not funny," said journalist Emily Miller, who posted a video of Biden about the end of the conference.

In short, Biden's press conference is opening a new internal debate in the Democratic Party, which has yet to decide whether or not to let go of the president's hand.

For the moment, right at the end of the press conference, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Jim Himes, asked Biden to step down. It's a matter of time to see if more people will add their voices to his.