How Biden Muffled the Media’s Fury at NATO Press Conference

President Joe Biden’s weeks-long fight for his political fight continued at Thursday’s much-hyped NATO summit press conference. However, it was not the media blockbuster as advertised. Rather than face a ravenous press corps demanding him to prove his competency, he danced between a pre-selected list of journalists who inquired about both his competency as a candidate and the foreign policy issues the summit was ostensibly about.

The nearly hourlong conference with the press-shy president was promoted by his aides as a final litmus test for his flailing candidacy, even dubbed the “big boy” press conference by a spokesman on Monday. It also served as another platform for the president’s defiance, as he repeated his refusal to withdraw from the presidential race. How successful he was remains to be seen; more Democratic policymakers called for him to exit the race after it ended.

Thursday’s gathering reflected a world in which both the press corps and Biden do not live, one where journalists can follow up on the long-term matters of China’s growing strength and war negotiations but forget on-the-spot rebuttals to the president’s immediate gaffes.

Read more at The Daily Beast.