He was almost out the door.

President Biden, who reluctantly surrendered his bid for a second term over the summer, had just finished his first-ever appearance in the White House briefing room on Friday when a reporter yelled out a question many people have been wondering about for months.

“Do you want to reconsider dropping out of the race?” the reporter asked, his voice rising above questions about Ukraine and other weighty topics.

The president paused, then turned around and declared “I’m back in!” before cracking a smile and offering a wave of his hand, as if to say, “I wish.”

It has been 75 days since Mr. Biden decided to call it quits on a nearly 50-year career in public service that has taken him to the pinnacle of political power. He could have battled for four more years but, his closest advisers told him, the fight would have caused chaos and division in the Democratic Party. It was not to be.

And while the spotlight is trained on Vice President Kamala Harris, Mr. Biden is holding tightly to the office he still occupies for another 109 days. At the very moment that Mr. Biden popped into the briefing room on Friday, Ms. Harris was giving her own campaign speech — doing exactly what he would have been doing if things had gone differently.

Mr. Biden, at almost 82 years old, has wanted to be president for most of his adult life. He ran and lost, and then ran and lost again before finally winning in 2020. Had deep concerns about his age not made his re-election campaign unsustainable, he would no doubt be trying again.

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