Coda: tonight’s NATO-related press conference, in spite of Biden’s knowledge of foreign policy, was a difficult, nerve-racking moment, with its share of confusions. It made me wonder all along if he was going to implode. The fact that he wants “to finish the job,” as he likes to say, and his professed belief that he is the best qualified candidate to run and to win, no matter the polls, made me cringe. I could barely watch. And what about his numerous trailing “anyways,” after answers that were often too specific ? Or when he pretended for a moment to be open to a classic, competitive convention, only to say in hushed, confidential, stilted tones that “it’s not going to happen”? His age, he says, is an unparalleled source of wisdom. The gap between his feeble answers to questions and his majestic claims seemed increasingly foolish.