Martin O’Malley as a potential Democratic nominee


While the media obsessively covers Hillary Clinton as if she was a shoo-in for the 2016 Democratic nomination, there are others who could challenge her, other than vice-president Joe Biden. One such person is the current governor of Maryland Martin O’Malley. I wrote about him before back in January.

He is well within the mainstream of the Democratic Party but has not pandered to the right wing of his party as much as the others and does not have all the baggage that Clinton and Biden have of being associated with bad policies.

According to Martin Longman, as governor, O’Malley has “legalized gay marriage, raised the minimum wage, enacted stricter gun control laws, eased access to college for undocumented people, and banned the death penalty”. Although a Catholic, he defied a request from the archbishop of Baltimore to oppose same-sex marriage. The Tea Party, Fox News, and the Republican party will hate him for all these policies but they seem to be focused on Clinton.

Walter Shapiro suggests ways in which how a more progressive Democratic should deal with the highly mixed legacy of the Obama administration while Haley Sweetland Edwards reviews O’Malley’s political career and his data-driven management style when he was mayor of Baltimore and later as governor.

He is also pretty telegenic and handles himself well with the vacuous TV talking heads as can be seen in this clip.

I have not heard anything really negative about O’Malley from a progressive viewpoint. We could do a lot worse.

Comments

  1. dogfightwithdogma says

    O’Malley sounds good. But the person I’d really like to see on the ballot is Elizabeth Warren.

  2. karmacat says

    Unfortunately, there are rumors he had affairs. There is also the likelihood he got his wife a job as a district court judge while he was mayor. I have been happy with his policy decisions but the Maryland legislature also tends towards being progressive democrats. I don’t think he had a whole lot of opposition to contend with

  3. StevoR : Free West Papua, free Tibet, let the Chagossians return! says

    While the media obsessively covers Hillary Clinton as if she was a shoo-in for the 2016 Democratic nomination, ..

    She kinda is at least at this stage though isn’ t she?

    I think Hillary will make a great POTUS -- and she was robbed in 2008.

  4. JoeB says

    I’m all for it, if just for the outbreak of references to “The Wire” it’d cause. O’Malley is the most obvious inspiration for the character of Tommy Carcetti (David Simon says Carcetti is a composite of many politicians but acknowledges O’Malley was one of them).

  5. doublereed says

    Honestly I haven’t heard too many bad things about O’Malley except from the crazy right win in Maryland. So that’s good. He spearheaded the Maryland DREAM Act, and I was surprised how strongly he came out in favor of gun control. You just don’t see that very often politicians nowadays.

    He has a rather Bill Clinton-esque demeanor about him sometimes. Very charismatic.

    My only complaint about him is that he had an awful speech at the DNC. It’s like they gave the good speeches to Warren and Clinton. But that’s praising with faint damnation.

  6. Mano Singham says

    @dogfightwith dogma,

    I would prefer Warren too but she insists she is not running and we have to take her at her word.

  7. moarscienceplz says

    I think Hillary will make a great POTUS – and she was robbed in 2008.

    That is poppycock. One of the reasons for having a long primary campaign before the national convention is to let each candidate show what a tough campaigner she/he is likely to be in the general election. The nomination was Hillary’s to lose, and that’s what she did. Obama didn’t use dirty tricks, he just outran her.
    I never liked how Hillary cynically used the vote on the Iraq war to try to make herself look tough, so I was glad I had a choice of another non-(white male) who took a principled stand against sending our young people into harm’s way when it wasn’t necessary.

  8. Mobius says

    Frankly, with more than two years to go to the presidential election, presidential politics just isn’t on my radar. And given the history of how many things can happen over a two year span to screw up a presidential run, saying someone is a shoo-in is a bit ridiculous. But then, this is the American media we are talking about.

    I am less than thrilled with Hillary, but given the state the Republican party is in I would still vote for her…even though in Oklahoma that vote isn’t going to count for anything. Oklahoma will vote for the village idiot if he is a Republican. After all, they voted for GWB. Twice.

  9. astrosmash says

    “I would prefer Warren too but she insists she is not running and we have to take her at her word”

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