The bar could not have been lower, nor the stakes higher for President Joe Biden than they were for his prime time press conference on Thursday night. 

And while he just barely cleared the bar and likely lived to fight another day, the stakes for him and the nation remain just as high.

Yes, there were stumbles and gaffes. Even before the press conference, he introduced Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy as "President Putin" at a NATO event, and later at the presser, he confused his own Vice President Kamala Harris with Donald Trump. But on the Biden bungling scale those are barely bumps in the road.

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More troubling was the soft whispery voice, the now-and-then return to the distant stare, the difficulty finishing sentences, and an awkward reference to First Lady Jill Biden getting angry with him. Still, for Biden these were not jaw-dropping moments, like we saw in Atlanta two weeks ago.

So, did Biden do enough up there alone on the podium, responding to question after question about his mental and physical abilities to save his candidacy or even his presidency?

Rep. Jim Himes, a powerful Connecticut Democrat on the Intelligence Committee didn’t think so, posting on X just minutes after the press conference that Biden should drop out. But the honest answer to whether Biden righted the ship of his campaign is an underwhelming "maybe."

We now know that at least one conversation about Biden's future has taken place between Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, grand poohbahs of the Democratic Party. How impressed were they by Biden’s performance? Hard to say.

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The underlying problem has not been fixed, because there is still every reason to believe that in the four months between now and election day we could see the Joe Biden of the debate again, even if we didn’t at Thursday’s press conference.

Team Biden certainly wants to believe that the event was a test that Biden passed and that we should all turn the page on the whole scandal. Yet there is very little chance of that, in large part because Biden himself, and his mental condition, are still the main story.

It was telling, in fact, how little news the first solo presidential press conference in months produced about anything other than the president’s fitness for office, or lack thereof.

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Under normal circumstances, we would be talking about Biden once again throwing Israel under the bus by answering a question on whether he could have done anything different in response to the conflict in Gaza by saying he wished the Israeli War Cabinet had listened to him more often.

But that ridiculous answer, like every other answer he gave was utterly irrelevant. Nobody was paying attention to the content of the words, just whether or not the president of the United States could successfully say them in order.

That just isn’t sustainable. The entire political focus of the nation cannot be on whether its most powerful leader is having a good day or a bad day. Not for the next four months, and certainly not for the next five years. Yet, that is still what we are looking at.

For Democrats, this was just about the worst performance Biden could have given. It wasn’t bad enough to open the floodgates on calls to step down, but it wasn’t good enough to make Americans stop wondering and worrying about the president’s condition.

And so we are stuck, right where we were before Biden took to the stage. Even if he stopped the immediate bleeding, and it isn’t even entirely clear he did that, he is still deeply, if not mortally wounded politically.

Joe Biden’s obstinate reply to growing concerns about his age and fitness has always been, "watch me." Well, Mr. President, we are. In fact it is all we are watching, it is all we can see, and there is real reason to believe that will never, ever change.

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Florida waters have worn the crown as the king of shark attacks for the last decade.

There have been 259 shark bites in the Sunshine State since 2012, according to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF).

The only other states that recorded enough shark attacks to even be a footnote on the list are Hawaii and South Carolina, with 76 and 49, respectively. 

A study by a law firm incorporated shark bites in a report that rated the most dangerous beaches in the United States. 

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Not surprisingly, the top 10 most dangerous beaches are all in Florida, according to Simmrin Law's report, and 24 of the top 25 are Sunshine State shores. 

Only Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, broke into the top 25. That location had 24 surf zone deaths and shark attacks, as well as 33 hurricanes, according to Fox Tampa.

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The experts also took into account other dangers, such as hurricanes and rip tides, and graded the country's most dangerous beaches. The higher the score out of 100, the more dangerous the beach. 

Here is the top 10, according to that law group.

10. Miramar Beach, 40.63

This is the only beach in the top 10 where a shark did not attack someone in 2023, according to Fox Tampa, based on the law firm's report. 

However, seven surfers died in these waters last year. 

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9. Melbourne Beach, 40.9

There were 19 recorded shark attacks in 2023, according to KTSM, citing Simmrin Law's report. 

Most of the victims were surfers, KTSM reported. 

8. Indialantic Beach, 41.02

Eight people at Indialantic Beach were attacked by sharks, and six surfers died in the rough waters.

7. Ponce Inlet, 41.54

In Ponce Inlet, there were 34 shark attacks and two surfer deaths, KTSM reported.

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6. Ormond Beach, 41.57

This beach nearly cracked the top five most dangerous beaches in the country because of its rip currents, which claimed the lives of six surfers. 

5. Cocoa Beach, 46.35

Cocoa Beach waters were a shark feeding frenzy in 2023, with 26 recorded attacks in 2023, but none were fatal.

4. Miami Beach, 47.78

Miami Beach's dangers really do not have much to do with sharks or dead surfers; it is seemingly hurricane season all the time. 

It has experienced a total of 126 hurricanes, KTSM reported. 

3. Daytona Beach, 60.01

Taking the bronze medal that it likely did not want is Daytona Beach, which had 141 recorded shark attacks, the second most in the country, according to KTSM. 

2. Panama City Beach, 67.75

Last year, 32 surfers died off the coast of Panama City Beach, which was closed to the public on June 23 because of life-threatening rip currents, AL.com reported.

1. New Smyrna Beach, 76.04

Nicknamed the "shark bite capital of the world," New Smyrna Beach recorded 186 shark attacks in 2023, and its location along the Atlantic makes it prone to hurricane devastation. 

Michael Simmrin said in a statement with the report that shark attacks "grab headlines," but Florida's beaches rank so high in terms of dangers because of "the ever-present hurricane risk." 

"Hurricanes create dangerous rip currents and storm surge, raising the overall risk for beachgoers," Simmrin said. 

"With summer approaching and vacations on the minds of many Americans, this study shows the importance of putting safety first when considering a trip to the beach."