President Joe Biden just gave a solo press conference today. Before it took place, the media had a lot of time to kill, due to the presser being postponed multiple times (it finally began just before 7:30 Eastern, almost two hours after it was scheduled). The most cogent comment I heard from the pundits was someone essentially saying that it could be a "break" moment (if Biden did badly), but that it probably wouldn't be a "make" moment, since no matter how good Biden did the fears will not be completely put to rest -- we'll just be in a sort of endless cycle of every unscripted appearance by Biden becoming its own make-or-break moment on its own. That seemed about right, to me, and it still seems right after watching Biden's performance.

Before the press conference started, it was hard to keep track of the number of Democratic House members who have now called on him to step away from his campaign, as more have now publicly called for it. The dam hasn't burst yet -- it's still less than 10 percent of the total Democratic caucus in the House, and so far only one senator has gone public with a call for Biden to step back. After tonight's performance, I doubt this dam will break any time soon, but there may be a continuing trickle of Democratic voices calling on Biden to reconsider.

Biden had a pretty good night tonight -- I should start my reactions to his press conference by saying that. He was clear, he answered questions for almost an hour, he displayed an in-depth knowledge of the many foreign policy issues he was asked about, and he only stumbled over his words a handful of times. His energy level was mostly pretty good, although at times Biden seemed to get quieter (which, for him, is fairly usual). He only really got emotional and animated very briefly at the end, when he talked about gun control laws. But the rest of the time he was pretty focused and entirely coherent, if not exactly energetic. He didn't have any huge face-plant moments, and his performance overall was miles better than his debate and even topped his interview with ABC News last week. Like I said, all-around Biden did a pretty good job.

However, very early on he made one big flub, and it could become the only clip many people see of the whole press conference. He was asked on his first question about his political future and his confidence that he could win and do the job for another four years. In his answer, Biden mentioned Vice President Kamala Harris. Or, to be more accurate, he tried to mention her... but it came out as: "Vice President Trump."

As Rick Perry might say: "Oops."

Earlier in the day during the NATO meetings, Biden was trying to introduce the leader of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and instead called him "Putin." However, with that gaffe Biden immediately realized his mistake and took great pains to correct it in real time. He did not do so tonight when he made the "Vice President Trump" comment.

To be fair though, Biden did have a few verbal stumbles here and there throughout the press conference and in almost every case he did realize immediately that he had misspoken and corrected himself each time. He really just missed the one, but it was a big one (because it is such an embarrassing thing to say, really).

Biden did get a little mixed up with his numbers once or twice, but it seems obvious that after his debate performance his team has told him to just avoid quoting numbers when he speaks -- something Biden even admitted at one point: "I don't want to cite a number and then find out I'm off," which is probably a good strategy in general.

Like I said, overall it was a pretty good press conference by Biden, measured by any normal standard. The problem is, Biden is not now being measured by normal standards, but instead is being put under the microscope by the press and his fellow Democrats. The final question he addressed, as he was walking out, was actually about his Trump/Harris mixup, which likely wouldn't have happened without the increased scrutiny.

I had a few specific reactions to things Biden said tonight (and, as always, these were hastily jotted down so the wording may not be completely accurate).

Biden used time during his press conference to do a little campaigning. He made the contrast between himself and Donald Trump numerous times, and touted his own record every chance he got. This is all a normal thing for a politician to do, obviously. When asked directly why he's still running, Biden responded he's "got more to do, got to finish the job." He was later asked about how many more "bad nights" he might have in the future, and Biden responded with his own metric for measuring such things, which was to ask: "Am I getting the job done?" He later stated: "I've got to finish this job," rather than (as he put it in the 2020 campaign) be a "bridge" to a younger generation.

He was asked about his comment to the Democratic governors last week that he needed to not attend events after 8:00, Biden responded in a sort of general way, stating that: "It'd be smarter to pace myself more." This is at least an acknowledgement of the age question, although perhaps not the most reassuring thing to say when he is running for four more years in office. At least it showed Biden was facing the reality of his own age, though.

Speaking of showing his own age, Biden for some reason admitted that he remembers dealing with Israel's Golda Meir -- who left office fifty years ago, in 1974. He did have one good line about the issue, though: "The only thing age does is it creates a little wisdom."

The only real news Biden made tonight all came towards the end of the presser. He was directly asked whether he would tell his convention delegates that they were free to vote their conscience, and Biden responded: "They're free to do whatever they want," adding that if the convention chose someone else to be the nominee, "that's democracy." However, he immediately shot these ideas down by doing that "whispery" thing with his voice that he loves so much, stating emphatically: "It's not going to happen."

He also agreed to take a neurological or cognitive test, but only if his medical team recommends one ("I am not opposed, if my doctors tell me to do it").

One rather disturbing trend for Biden is how he now just brushes off any polling numbers he doesn't like. He did so tonight when asked about his numbers, reacting with: "How accurate does anybody think the polls are these days?" But he did make a big admission -- that he thinks that other Democrats could beat Trump too (showing Biden doesn't fully think he is the only one who can, which is good to hear). He had a similar brushoff for the state of the race, saying the campaign "hasn't even started in earnest," and saying presidential campaigns don't really get going until after Labor Day. And Biden expressed confidence in the money he is raising, saying: "We're not doing bad." This, however, might be changing. There are rumors that the numbers from both Biden's big-money donors and his small donors has been way down since the debate.

To his credit, Biden did express a lot of confidence in Kamala Harris, saying she's been qualified "since Day One" to take over from him, and that "that's why I picked her." But at the end of the press conference he was directly asked if he would step aside for her if the polling showed she could beat Trump while he can't. Biden did flirt with defining when he would decide to get out of the race a bit, saying he wouldn't step down unless his pollsters "came back and said there's no way you can win." But he shot this down immediately, with another whispery-emphasis denial: "Nobody's saying that. No poll says that."

So all around, it was a pretty good night for Biden. He had no major brain-freeze moments and just one truly embarrassing gaffe. And yes, it is unfair for that one flub to become the clip that everyone's going to show from this point on. But that's really the bigger point here -- this is now the world that Biden has to live in. His every utterance will now be fair game, and it won't just be the Trump campaign making fun of any errors -- the mainstream media is now going to do the same thing. From now on.

This has already created a "waiting for the other shoe to drop" dynamic, which is going to surround Biden for the rest of the campaign. It's going to mean there will be a continuous cycle of make-or-break moments for him. Next up will be a sit-down interview Biden has scheduled for next Monday. This is actually a brilliant political move, since Biden will get an hour of primetime coverage by NBC News on the first night of the Republican National Convention. That's something of a public relations coup for Team Biden... if he does well, that is. Because it will indeed be seen as make-or-break for the president, once again.

For now, Biden has successfully pushed back on the "pass the torch" Democrats. His press conference isn't going to radically change the situation among Democratic officeholders -- which it easily could have, if Biden had truly had a cognitive meltdown. Joe Biden has lived to fight another day.

For now, that is.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant