Joe Biden's presidency is bursting with all the swagger and success of Jimmy Carter. There are even six American hostages in Israel. His polling is absolutely dismal. But Carter faced a rough primary season with Ted Kennedy. The Democrats and their media allies have suppressed all primary opponents for Biden.
The polls clearly suggest broad distaste for this president. On Sunday, ABC "This Week" host Jonathan Karl was breaking the bad news to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. "Our poll this morning has Biden's approval rating at 33%. That's historically low." (He left out the 58% disapproval.) Karl added only 31% approve of Biden's handling of the economy. But all Karl could ask Pritzker was "How does he turn that around?"
Does anyone think if Donald Trump had an approval rating of 33% in 2020, Karl wouldn't ask a Republican how on Earth anyone expects him to win, and suggest he would help his party best by taking himself out of the race?
For his part, Pritzker tried to accentuate the positive. So Karl unloaded another number: "Just 28% think that President Biden has the mental sharpness to effectively serve for another term. So how does he address those concerns, those very real concerns that voters have?"
Later in the interview, Karl offered a number from a different network, that CBS found 68% disapprove of Biden's handling of the border. And yet he asked, "How does the president address this going forward?" Naturally, this spurred Pritzker to repeat all his attacks on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for sending illegal immigrants to Illinois.
So why isn't there major opposition to Biden? Start with this ugly fact: Pro-Biden media outlets don't want to give opponents any airtime. Then there are the individual states blocking Biden opponents from getting on the ballot.
ABCNews.com reported in December on some of those antics. In late November, Florida Democrats "quietly" submitted a list of candidates to their secretary of state -- and only Biden was on it. The move is expected to cause a cancellation of a primary. Democracy triumphs again?
The campaigns of Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), Marianne Williamson and Cenk Uygur sounded the alarm over this "authoritarian" and "unconstitutional" decision, but you wouldn't know from watching TV. Nothing died in darkness! You can't prove it was Biden!
The same thing happened in North Carolina and Tennessee and Massachusetts -- Biden alone was "the list." Perversely, a spokesman for North Carolina's Democratic Party told the Biden challengers they did not reach the standards for their nomination: a candidacy that is "generally advocated and recognized in the news media."
Phillips complained to Politico that since declaring his candidacy on Oct. 27, he hasn't been interviewed once on MSNBC, or the big Sunday talk shows. CNN's had him on, but not in a "town hall" setting like the Republicans this cycle, or congressman candidates like Eric Swalwell and Seth Moulton in the last cycle.
The Republicans have held five debates, and the Democrats have had zero, even if polls show voters would like to see Biden debate (to see how spry he is). As Phillips complained, "How can Democrats say we're fighting for democracy... yet removing me from the ballot in Florida and North Carolina? ... How can you say you are for free speech and protecting freedom and democracy and not even consent to doing one debate?"
These would be great questions for reporters. But the people who march around touting themselves as the guardians of democracy are the ones squashing this primary race like a barrel of grapes.