The president of the USA Joe Biden characterized it again debate with Donald Trump “a bad episode,” in an interview with ABC News and to George Stephanopoulos.

He added that his shaky performance was due to poor preparation, exhaustion and illness.

“There is no indication of any serious condition. I was exhausted. I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparation and I had a bad night,” Biden said.

“I felt awful,” he added, his voice hoarse and sometimes halting. “I asked the doctors if they tested for COVID because they were trying to figure out what went wrong. They did a test to see if I had an infection, a virus. I had no. It was just a really bad cold.”

Biden added that he had no one to blame but himself and that he had never seen the debate before.

“Can I run 100 meters? No. But I’m still in good shape,” the 81-year-old Democratic president pointed out at another point in his interview, while also noting:

“If God comes down and tells me I can’t win, then maybe I’ll retire.”

“Biden looks better than the debate, but does not understand the gravity of the moment,” according to analysts

In the wake of the interview, analysts estimate that Joe Biden looks better than the debate but there is nothing to reassure those who worry that he may lose to Trump.

“Some things are raising new concerns, that he doesn’t understand the predicament he’s in after the debate and the polls. When asked what he will think if he loses to Trump in January, he said:

I’ll feel like I did my best. There is nothing in this interview that will push him out, but also nothing that will appease those who are calling for him to leave.’

For their part, White House correspondents comment that the American president does not seem to understand the seriousness of the moment. “He worries about a bad night in the debate, some generally worry that he doesn’t have what it takes to win,” they point out.