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a public service. along with these other television providers. giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> joining us now is paul waltman he's an opinion letter for the "washington post" but lalso senior writer for american prospects. mr. wells and thank you for o giving short time today. >> my pleasure. >> recent piece of yours by the post, i'll give you the headline, you can fill the blank you call joe biden a bad news problem. particularly, what is the bad news he has to face? and how you think the administration is doing as far as pushing back on that? >> well, this is something a problem everyry president faces which is that first of all, bad news is inherently more newsworthy than good news. so for instance the price of gas has a fall and think somewhere between 30 and 40 cents over the last month which is a pretty precipitous drop. but what you don't see her hundreds and hundreds of new story where they put up the pictures of the signs of the gas prices and people talking about

how muchbo this is going to benefit joe biden. but of course in gas prices were going up, we saw exactly the opposite. all those news stories all kind ofof speculation about how it would affect him, his prospects and his rating. the truth is he did not have much to do the gas prices dropping per just like he dids not have much to do with gas prices going up in the first place. but the president gets the blame for pretty much everything that goes wrong. until that is especially true i think it a moment like this. you know you have a problem liki inflation and it is complicated. you have the democrats who often more inherently infectious party mthan republicans. on the one hand again reporters writing the new story have extremely unified opposition. who's going to say whatever bad is happening with its inflation, foreign crisis, it is all the presidents fault they're all going to repeat that over and over. democrats have a lot of

different things they are talking about. and different opinions. you'rere going to see a lot of different messages coming from them. so that is one problem. another problem that he has is that governing is inherently difficult. there is a famous quote from ariel cuomo who said we campaign and poetry and govern in prose. people run for president andsi they promised all kinds of things. the paint this picture of the world in whichch every problem e have is going to get solved. and it is all going to be y wonderful. and then they get into office and things are extremely difficult. and especially for democrats. keep in mind they are the party of government, they are the ones that want government to do lots e of things. when republicans get elected they have a pretty simple straightforward agenda at most of the time they want to cut taxes to a couple of other things pray they do not have complicated ambitious legislative plans. but democrats usually do. then they run into difficulties

of legislating in congress. and i think they're something else to keep in mind with biden in particular. everybody knows he is very narrow majorities about house and thews senate. i don't think people appreciate just how unprecedented it is. there has not been a democratic president in the history of the democratic party all the way back to andrew jackson, who came into office with congressional majorities as narrow as the one joe biden face when he came into office. so, hero has no room for maneuv. no votes to spare. and that means legislating is going to be really, really hard too. that process is not fun. it is full of setbacks and difficulties and frustration. and then you naturally see his base it very dissatisfied. that in turn becomes the subject of more news stories. i'm not saying joe biden hasn't made plenty of mistakes or could

not of done things better, but so many things about the system are set up to make him look like he is struggling. whether he is or not. and he is in some ways. but he has a lot of things stacked against him and the weight may be a republican president wouldn't separate or at a different time of this thought a lot of things like inflation that are not within his control to do anything about that he would not be facing her. >> our guest is with us until 10:00 o'clock if you and ask them to cluster (202)748-8000 for democrats republicans to 8001. independence 2,027,488,002. you can texas at (202)748-8003. let me flip it a little bit. what does joe biden have going for him now? >> well. [laughter] at this point not a lot. it's interesting, you can look at his approval rating, which are pretty low right now it's around 40% or so. but if you think back on other recent presidents, this is about where they were to presidents we

look back on like barack obama, bill clinton, ronald reagan, we think of them is very, very successful but this stage in the presidency they were all in roughly the same spot for their approval ratings are pretty low. it looked like the other party, the opposition parties going to win a big w midterm victory whih in those cases they did. and all of those presidents, reagan, obama, clinton recovered to win a second term. special case because of 911. see that pattern over and over. in one of things it shows is that the public is fickle in many ways. there is always an ebb and flowa so it may be what we will see is republicans will win a one house or two houses in the midterm elections. they will then make a lot of people unhappy with what they are doing with their congressional majority. and thenit biden could cruise to reelection just like those previous presidents did. >> one of the issue that is been

coming up and you've been writing about is the issue of abortion. particularly after the roe v wade decision for a lot of people looking for the president to do things to counteract that. maybe even more than what he can do. where is the administration you think on this issue? and where should it go as far as counteracting with the supreme court did? >> well, you can look at this in a couple of ways. if you talk to the administration, their argument as we are doinglk everything we can but there's not a lot of things we can do. he can issue executive orders that govern the policies of the executive branch. but he can't single-handedly passnd a national codification f a roe v wade. they are not 50 votes in the senate to do that. and so there is only so much he can do. the trouble is that, that is often biden's first impulse. he is an institutionalist. he is somebody who is very focused on what government is ticapable of.

and so his first impulse and some of these situations is to say hey, t this is going to be hard and i'll do whatever i can. that is often not the kind of emotional thing that his own supporters one at that moment. they want to know that he is really fighting and that he is out there aggressively trying to satisfy their demands. and so he is maybe not kind of constitutionally inclined to give his supporters what they this.n a moment like and when he says you have to go out and vote, that is true. if democrats want to change the situation of abortion right now, they need to get the right governors elected to pay then ho should turn some state legislatures preventing to maintain control of the senate and the executive branch they can begin to reverse some of what has happened with the judiciary. none of that is possible without

voting. and voting is kind of the base level. i've heard a lot of different metaphors but some people call it table stakes it's like the have to do you before you do anything else. i think stacy abrams says voting is not magic but it is medicine, you have to keep taking it. you can think about ave lot of different ways. but at the same time of the base here is the leader of their party say you just have to go out and vote, that is not what they want to hear. they say we voted and we are still at this point. that is part of the problem is that that is a biden's impulse process something that is true but it's not the thing is based necessarily wants to hear. but of course one argument in his favor is that this is what the right did put it this is why we are at this moment. they never stopped devoting. when they decided that it was their goal to overturn roe v

wade and bring us to the point we are at now, they spent decades working on it and they voted. and they made it impossible in their party to win a primary without being one had a% antiabortion. and they did not think they were going to get the change they wanted in a year. they realize it was going to take a long time and so they kept working. that is why we are at this point. to say to people you have to build a movement that is going to play out over the course of decades is often not the most satisfying answer. so he is in a position where it is very, very difficult for him to satisfy the emotional needs of his supporters both in terms of the power he has in his own inclinations were. >> our first call from you comes from george that this is from a millie at democrats aligned you are, go ahead. >> hi good morning c-span. what ' want to say is that

democrats have a problem with messaging. if they would do their messaging just a little better, just as the republicans are trying to cut down or do away with medicare and social security. and mitt romney where is the democrats voice and that? it's a lot of things people do not understand. republicans offer less government, less taxes but they do not understand the implications this has for the working people. when you have less government, less taxes, when he issues like tornadoes and hurricanes, therer will be no money to fix your homes, because the republicans are for the rich, the corporations, they have been trying for years. the democrats gave us social

security, medicare and they opposed it. so what they are trying to do now is do away with these things be. >> thank you amelia, thank you, mr. waltman. >> the color points to something that i think is important. gallup recently found trusted institution they ask you how much faith you have in all kinds of different institutions the government, the military, the church. they have found trusting the institutions is basically at the lowest point since they have been asking the question for decades. and that is a situation that's actually very good for republicans. they are the party that says government is bad and you are on your own. the more people feel like things are kind of out of control and there's no place toyo turn to, e better that is for republicans especially because it democrats are controlling the federal government right now. i think they're the ones that are going to get the blame. also because it played into the general sort of conservative

ideology that said as you said you are on your own. you cannot rely on government to help you but you cannot plant any other institutions to help you. and the more it feels like those institutions are not providing for you and not solving the problems, the more it seems like the republican argument is right and we just should not bother asking them to help. and so you have a situation now where is a lot of that kind of sense, anything that goes wrong we have this pandemic that is been lingering for years now. we have inflation. there are bad things going on around the world. it just contributes to a sense things are kind of outes of control. that enables republicans to say see, nobody is going to help you. we should just elect people who will mirror back your anger whatever you are mad about. that is an inherent structural advantage they have a pretty if you are the party that does not believe in government, then you don't really have to do very

much once you do get power. because you did not set a great deal of expectations. your expectations were i am going to say i'm mad about the things you are mad about. that i think is part of the power of donald trump with the republican party is that sure, he may have said were going to have so much winning will be tired of all the winning and things like that. but he did not make all that manyny specific promises for so many of his support is just getting elected was the fulfillment of the promise. because he set there are these people that you hate, i hate them too. we are going to give and the iagiant middle finger and that s what his election was a a parade that come as far as they were concerned with success. any policy changes that came were frosting on the cake. and so it is another way or democrats have inherently moree difficult task when they get elected than republicans do. >> from mike in california independent line, hi. >> hi how are you doing?

how this guy can say that biden had nothing to do with the gas price hike is just ridiculous. when he came into office he declared war on the energy companies of the united states. putin saw that and smiled. the way he left afghanistan, he caused the war over there but they saw how weak he was. they knew the heat they could get away with anything. for this guy to get upew there d say biden had nothing to do with the gas prices is completely insane. he had everything to do with it. he had everything to do with the start of the war. because of putin saw how weak he was, he went in there and did anything he wants what she is still doing now. everyone is laughing at us now. >> okay thanks mike. >> well i think it's a good illustration of the propensity to blame everything on the other

side's president. cassis sold on the global market for the fact is that we had plenty of a gas production, oil production in the united states. not a very tentative steps lead by the administration had any kind of real impact on the amount of oil being produced here. the oil companies, if you ask them they are much more concerned about wall street and what their investors want in terms to do in production with what the president says or some proposed environmental regulation might do. and as for vladimir putin's decision to invade ukraine, there's kind ofis an american disease were we think anything that happens in the world must be because of what we think and what we do. the fact is that people all over the world have their own incentives, their own goals, and

putin has his own reasons for wanting to invade ukraine. and he decided that he was going to do it. so now there are very few options the president has. believe me, there is nothing in the world that joe biden would like more than to bring down the price of gas. if there's anything he could do to do it, he would try it. but right now his options ares very limited. >> here is: a wenona from vermont, democrats line. >> good morning. you know i am re- product plans here and i washed my hands i'm going yes, yes, yes, i am astounded on a daily basis byst how much is going on within the democratic party. and people who should know better. it is like being gas lighted. we have gone through so much and currently enduring much. and in my opinion our democracy

is in peril. but there's a lot to go through. have people forgotten about the pandemic we are in for instance? i think biden is doing great. under any circumstances who else could do any better? like you said yes he makes mistakes. but i am just astounded, i don't know. >> okay wenona, that is a wenonf from vermont. >> i think the frustration that wenona is speaking to is that democrats as i said are in inherently fractious party for they have a lot of different kinds of people. it's a very diversee, coalition. aand they may be share a lot bt they also have a lot of different short-term goals and things like that. i think there's also a lot of frustration within the party because o of how we understand

more than ever how many different ways the system really is rigged against the interest of a more progressive vision and the democratic party in particular. if something like the electoral college were in the last five elections a republican president who did not win the popular vote became president. and you have a system in the united states senate is split 50/50 but the democrat representatives represent 40 million more americans and republicans do because wyoming 600,000 residents get two votes in the senate and california's 40 million residents get to vote in the senate. and that then produces a situation where we now have six -- three conservative super majority on the supreme court or doing things that are extremely unpopular. and so all of this makes liberals and democrats feel like the whole system is rigged against them. and that causes incredible frustration and some of that

gets turned back on biden, who because of all that because of the things he seems powerless to do anything out about. and parts of the system he does not seem particular eager to change like the filibuster in the senate. that makes a lot of democrats extremely frustrated. one things i would say to them, is if that is how you are feeling really think about where you can have the most impact. if you are a democrat who has a couple hundred dollars you want to donate tool a candidate. one of things it's going to be the most effective in terms of it beginning to chip away at some of those institutional problems is to go down the ballot spray there's a big incentive to say i saw some person who's running against someone who i really hate. i'm going to go send them 50 bucks. when your money could go a lot further if you looked at a state legislative race in a state like arizona, or michigan republicans control the legislature but you may have a very slim democratic

majority in that state spate that can have a big impact on policy. and especially on the 2024 election. so for instance, there are multiple states like that where you have people who are running for secretary of state to run a state election who are out in out election conspiracy theorists. those are absolutely vital races. much more so than some member of the house. and the nice thing about some the state legislative races isgi your money actually goes a long way. if there's a senate race will both sides are going to be spending $50 million versus a state legislative race for both sides are going begi spinning $100,000 you can have a much bigger impact but take some time to research and figure it out. i think this again is one of things republicans have been better at int recent years and democrats have. they have really focused intently on the state legislative races. you can kind of see a chain of events for that makes a

differenceki in taking power. so 2010 a big republican year, they flipped a bunch of state legislatures and that gave them control over the redistricting. that enabled them to institute some really brutal make it almost impossible for democrats to win back the control thecr state legislature even when they have majorityat support. and then you see how the whole series of events comes from that focus what's happening low toen the ground. and they can leverage that intop state power and national power. and democrats have to -- their democrats to do this and will scream until their voices are hoarse about how important it is for some state legislatures. but the whole party has not been as strategic about it as the :republican party has. >> from washington, pennsylvania republican line this is mary, hi. >> caller: hi. i just want to simply say, i

believe mr. walden is giving a pep talk to democrats. and that is all i have to say. >> that is mary from pennsylvania. paul let me follow up when your questions about the president's age particular as he approaches another electoral campaign what does to your mind? >> it's a legitimate question. the presidency is an extremely taxing job it's very difficult. it's intellectually taxing it is a physically taxing joe biden is the oldest president we have had. he would be 86 at the end of a second term. it is legitimate to ask about his ability to do the job. donald trump is still the most likely republican candidate he would be in his 80s two. and at the end of the second term. i think these are legitimate questions. it b can be somewhat awkward to

talk about. a lot of democrats are in a position they would ratherr not say anything about it publicly. biden says he's running again and he is the leader of the party.f there isn't anyone who wants to go on record, anybody within the democratic party wants to go on record saying he shouldn't. i think probably after the midterms when that 2024 campaign has to really get going, that is when people are going to really start to debate it in a more intense way. i think right now among democrats the feeling is let's just get emma worry about 2024 after. and then it may be biden's own feeling personally he says he's running, he could change his mind. so i think that is a conversation after november were going to be having much more. >> from daryl, and missouri independent line you're on with paul walton go ahead. >> you're talking about approval ratings, congress has about a

15% approval rating and the only thing lower than that is approval for the press. the only people i know that read that washington post, i don't know anybody in missouri or the "new york times", the decline of the newspapers because of the liberal and cnn because of their liberal leanings it has declined tremendously too. >> collier all the talk with our guests presumably so would like to askas him? >> where does he get his information regarding the gas prices? if you don't get permits to the 9000 leases you cannot drill. when you can drill it doesn't make any difference how much oil

you bring in if you do not get a pipeline to take it to market for. >> a kate darrell in missouri thank you. >> guest: yes. again i would say as the oil companies by they don't seem to be particularly have a sense of urgency by drilling more but they are doing great they're making lots of profits this is not something they feel is a problem. but when it comes to approval ratings of congress mentioned that is true congresses ratings are always very low. part of the reason isn't people look at congress what do theyop see question at the see a lot of people arguing. they seek to sides with incompatible goals. they see this extremely frustrating and maddening process that takes a huge amount of time to ever get anywhere and what it produces always looks like a compromise that does not make anybody happy. it is almost impossible for congress to t get good ratings. even when it passes bills. now people don't really know much about what is in them.

passing bills does not get you very much of a boost in your approval whether it's congress in particular or the president. that is part of the problem is that if you don't pass anything, that makes you look like you're ineffective. if you do pass something people say they don't like it. there is nothing that they give you any credit for. this is been something extra for decades and decades. : : : which is named after well-known political scientist a few decades ago. people said they hate congress but they love their own congressman? why is >> somebody note you see him in the local paper and you know, getting a ribbon the new senior center or whatever it is, they see the congresswoman tv talking eye, i likest lazy her and i like them, but, othero get about congressman in general is that it is bad and the color

also mentioned how nobody knows the new york times, they don't trust whether the news outlets and i think that is important to realize that is extremely successful campaign from conservatives the dates back to the 70s, so people who are conservative, that you cannot trust anything the news media tells you and it's all lies whatever you hear from them is inherently trustworthy and people who hate you and you should only get your information from news sources validate everything that you believe that is something that is hard to say 1970s, the buildup a kind of institutional apparatus of alternate news organizations, "fox news" in 1996, hand it has been extremely successful putting up a firewall between the voters in any information that they don't really want to

hear and another thing that it does now, that people who are conservative come they don't know the things that washington post and hear about it but they can also tune in to fox had get an entirely different narrative and so there's's a mass shooting right cause them tohe think that we really do have done problems and they will tune into fox were they will be told, guns have nothing to do with this, that i could have more guns and anywhere else in the world has nothing toel do with the tens of thousands of people killed every year, and his mental health problems or it is these women were to nike and laura ingram will tell you marijuana is what he calls it and you'll get this old narrative that will enable you to say, okay, this is bad about all of the mass shootings,

and i fitted into the mark something more credible for my world that's important function conservative media as well as causally costly telling you that you cannot trust anything that appears in any other news outlets is not geared specifically toward your point of view. >> goes on, we are short on time so jump right in with your question or comment please. >> well my question is how the guy could call o in and say, the biden - when donald trump is up to himit all the time he was in there and so he was right of everything, and it was just agreeable with north korea going on there and kissing up to about leader and why can you say biden is week when ukraine is on the countertop going over that meeting and o nobody knows with even talk about and it's

ridiculous and i would like to also no real fast, why in the world is nobody talking about epstein and killed and these pedophiles in the same government, - for they got. >> okay, before we let you go, just one more topic real quick paul waldman others news today, criminal contempt for refusing to turn over materials to the generally six committee but i want to ask about the committee because there holding a hearing this week of prime time what you think ultimately the impact will be on the suffer. >> i don't know that they stay there were going to transform the s way that everybody in america thinks about january 6, that may not have been possible given the polarization everything that which we have been talking about and they just wanted to establish an historical record, theyey wanted to gather more information so we have a more complete understanding of it of what went on and i think this afar, they

been successful, there's a lot more that we have learned about what happened that we did not know before especially about n what went on inside of the white house. something in the end, who knows how many lines they will have changed or votes they would've altered but i think that is certainly true that we know better just how profound theat threat was just how awful that day was and what went on in the white house have close that we came to what was really would've been the anthem of our democracy and i would hope that everything they revealed in a kind of runner this high profile before the public, will makeay us more resistant come 2024, because that is when this is all going to come into play again we should make no mistake about it. the donald trump and his allies are trying to put in place apparatus that will enable them to do in 2024, with a can of you

in 2020 so even if, but the democratic nominee who wins more votes, they will have enough people in place, and secretary of state and offices and legislatures, that will enable them to take the election even if they do not when it and that is a real threat and i would hope that if the individual race six, committee and all of the hearings everything that you will have a more acute understanding that will enable us to be prepared for the threat we will face in 2024, and i don't know if we will all that we can all be hopeful about that. >> paul waldman writes for the washington post and you can find his writings a prospect . org and thank you for your time paul waldman. >> twenty is now, the president of the u.s. oil and gas association here to talk about production in the united states. >> good morning. >> think you for joining us,