No catastrophe – but not enough to save the American president's skin.
The stakes were high when Joe Biden sat down in the interview chair on Friday. But American analysts are not impressed.
Friday's interview with ABC News was described as the last chance for Joe Biden to repair the damage after the catastrophic debate performance against Donald Trump last week.
But the interview did not do much to stop the bleeding, writes Politico. Shortly after the interview was broadcast, sources within the Democrats told the site that the president had at least managed to "postpone his execution" – but that it was unlikely to be enough to stem the panic within the party.
Raised new questions
That Biden's performance was slightly better than last time says little, notes CNN's Stephen Collinson. But he at least appeared more composed than during the CNN debate and did not create any new catastrophes, writes the political reporter.
At the same time, Biden's own explanation for the debate disaster against Trump – that he "felt terrible" – has raised new questions about his physical and cognitive health. When ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked if the president had seen the criticized debate afterwards, he replied "I don't think so, no" – an apparent confusion according to several American media outlets.
Several analysts also emphasize the strangeness of the president not having watched the sharply criticized debate.
Open mouth
The New York Times notes that several of Biden's answers to Stephanopoulos were neither convincing nor particularly coherent. On several occasions, he paused – or "froze" – for several seconds and seemed to be searching for words, writes the newspaper in an analysis.
Even The Washington Post is skeptical of Biden's performance. The newspaper's Dana Milbank writes that the president listened to Stephanopoulos with "an open mouth", that he lost his train of thought and seemed to get lost in his own thoughts and reasoning.
"It's a real problem. The country is talking about Biden's mental capacity instead of the threat of Trump's return to power", writes Milbank – who predicts that the focus on Biden's health will lead to Trump emerging victorious from the election.
