The first words spoken by a candidate on Wednesday’s debate stage came from Joe Biden. “Go easy on me, kid,” he joked to Kamala Harris as she walked out on stage for the candidate introductions. The senator did not go easy on him, nor did most of the other Democratic contenders in Detroit. But nobody managed to land a blow that would change the trajectory of the race or dent Biden’s front-runner status.

The second round of debates this week may have been the last real opportunity for some of the candidates to do just that. The Democratic National Committee’s qualification rules are likely to exclude at least half of the current contenders from the third debate in September. It was not quite a make-or-break night for Biden himself, who already qualified for the next round. But it was close. His languid performance in last month’s debates not only boosted Harris into the upper tier of candidates, but also raised questions about whether he could pull off a grueling presidential bid.

Biden avoided a moment like the one Harris elicited last month, and largely parried whatever attacks the other candidates threw his way. When it came to substance, however, Biden was more muddled. When their party is out of power, presidential candidates typically portray themselves as agents of bold change. Biden hasn’t done that. Instead, he’s promising to restore America to its pre-Trump state and finish the work of the Democratic president under whom he served. He’s running a status quo candidacy for a status quo that no longer exists.

The debate’s early jousts revolved around health care. True to form, Biden resisted Medicare for All and other wholesale reforms in favor of the Obama administration’s incrementalist approach. “Obamacare is working,” he said. “The way to build this and get to it immediately is to build on Obamacare. Go back and do—take back all the things that Trump took away, provide a public option, meaning every single person in America would be able to buy into that option if they didn’t like their employer plan, or if they’re on Medicaid, they’d automatically be in the plan.” In other words, he merely wants to make Obamacare what it could have been in 2010, before centrist Democrats nixed a public option when drafting the law. Any greater aspirations for health-care reform are deemed unrealistic.

When the debate turned to immigration, Biden rejected Julián Castro’s call—embraced many other candidates—to decriminalize border crossings. He refrained from articulating a holistic view for immigration reform beyond the usual nation-of-immigrants bromides of American politicking. Instead, he laid many of the processes’ woes at the current president’s feet. “People should have to get in line,” he argued. “That’s the problem. And the only reason this particular part of the law is being abused is because of Donald Trump. We should defeat Donald Trump and end this practice.”