Compelling and well worth a read --> O’Malley returns to a Baltimore he barely recognizes

[bigtree]

NinaSophia @ninasophia81
Honest, compelling and well worth a read --> O’Malley returns to a Baltimore he barely recognizes https://www.yahoo.com/politics/martin-omalley-returns-to-a-baltimore-he-barely-117824391151.html?soc_src=unv-sh&soc_trk=tw … via @YahooPolitics





____ Martin O’Malley is an exceptionally composed politician — maybe too composed. He normally speaks in a flat cadence that can feel rehearsed, and in oddly formal language. (He likes to talk about these United States, as if possessed by the ghost of Abraham Lincoln.) The New York Times’s Jason Horowitz described O’Malley earlier this week as wearing his smile like a shield.

But that was not the O’Malley who invited me Thursday on a two-hour drive through some of Baltimore’s poorer neighborhoods and grimmest landmarks. Mayors sometimes like to take reporters around their cities so they can show them all the cranes raising up gleaming new office towers and condominiums; O’Malley had in mind a tour through the tragic past, so I could understand what life had been like in this anguished city before he got there, and after.

This O’Malley was shaken. He had canceled his scheduled speeches in Ireland and flown back to Baltimore Tuesday, after news of the rioting and looting reached the world. It wasn’t clear what exactly he was supposed to be doing, so he walked the streets and reassured old friends.

“I had to be here,” he told me in a thick voice. “I couldn’t be away. I mean, I was so sad. I just needed to be home. I’m talking to my kids, and they’re holding the phone up as I’m listening to the mayor talk about what’s going on, and I — I just needed to be home...”

“The events of this week have been totally heartbreaking,” O’Malley told me quietly at one point. “I don’t know any other way to express it.” I wondered which he found more painful — that the city he loved had come unglued, or that others might think he should shoulder the blame...


read more: https://www.yahoo.com/politics/martin-omalley-returns-to-a-baltimore-he-barely-117824391151.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma

related:

Martin O'Malley made an impressive stand this week in the face of potentially withering criticism
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026600084


(Foto: @wjhenn)

[FSogol]

1. K&R. n/t

[elleng]

2. Thanks for this, bigtree.

[cali]

3. well worth the read for sure. thanks. k&r

[Koinos]

4. O'Malley

I really think O'Malley deserves a place in this primary race. He has character traits that would make him an excellent president.

[djean111]

5. O'Malley had a good reason to be there.

In my opinion, any other candidate going there would have been rightly seen as just looking for publicity. Would have been the equivalent of ambulance-chasing.

[bigtree]

6. maybe >--- point taken, though

...I think that characterization would be almost entirely an invention of the media (they know from ambulance chasers ). I think most people would appreciate their high profile presence and support. Baltimore's a hop, skip, and a jump from where some of them work, in D.C.

Can't say much for the cursory and clipped speeches and remarks given from a safe and comfortable distance. Those can be characterized as opportunism, as well. The heat comes with the territory.

[qwlauren35]

7. I have thought this as well.

For example, it made sense to have Rep. Elijah Cummings there. Those are his constituents. But I didn't see Maryland Senators or Senator candidates there, and I'm not sure they should have been. My thought was "grand-standing".

[djean111]

8. I seem to recall reading that O'Malley was accused of grandstanding, the first place he stopped by.

This was brought here to DU earlier -
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/30/o-malley-2016-just-committed-suicide-in-baltimore.html

It could have been a breakthrough moment for former Governor Martin O’Malley.

A former mayor/governor/turned potential presidential contender cuts short a series of paid speeches in Europe to return to the still-smoldering city he once governed and where he still lives.

“I just wanted to be present. There’s a lot of pain in our city right now, a lot of people feeling very sad,” O’Malley said Tuesday, according to The Washington Post. “Look, we’ve got to come through this together. We’re a people who’ve seen worse days, and we’ll come through this day.”

But as he hopped in and out of a black Suburban that ferried him from neighborhood to neighborhood torn apart by fire, looters, and poverty, he just became a joke. Worse, for some people, he revealed himself to be a root cause of Baltimore’s problem.

“There are a lot of cameras here in town and some people are looking for attention,” Governor Larry Hogan said Wednesday afternoon. “I’m just focused on the crisis. I’m here to answer your questions, but we’re really here trying to heal the community.”

O’Malley was even heckled, according to the Post, as he walked around the streets.

A Baltimore police veteran talking with MSNBC on Wednesday afternoon took it a step further.

“If he’s coming back to town, you may see a riot,” retired Baltimore police officer Neill Franklin said. “I would encourage him to not come to Baltimore.”

[bigtree]

11. that shows how petty and biased the press can be

...that officer criticizing him was ousted from law enforcement because of charges of corruption.

The former Baltimore police officer who insinuated that Martin O'Malley's visit to the city could incite a riot was fired from the force during O'Malley's tenure as mayor, a fact not disclosed in his many media appearances this week.

In an interview with MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" on Wednesday, former officer Neill Stanford Franklin went out of his way to criticize O'Malley for overseeing what he described as an abnormally high rate of arbitrary arrests in Baltimore. He then said that the former mayor's return to the city could incite a riot.

Franklin said during the interview that he "left" the force in 2004. In fact, he was fired from the department after an internal investigation into what The Baltimore Sun then described as allegations that he had "improperly supervised and rehired a former city police spokeswoman who was removed from her job" by the police commissioner.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-04-30/prominent-martin-o-malley-critic-had-been-fired-after-scandal

Contrary to the opportunistic press reports, O'Malley was well received by many more in the public than the smattering who took the opportunity to 'heckle' him. The media reports which were critical of his visit look self-serving to their own critical views of the former mayor and governor; like Simon and the conveniently timed release of his opinion piece about O'Malley's policing. Other accounts were more balanced and generally favorable (like the one in the op) :

lapared @lapared · Apr 29
Martin O'Malley takes a walk through Baltimore and shows real leadership via Daily Kos - http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/29/1381092/-O-Malley-Takes-A-Walk-Through-Baltimore …

Lis Smith @Lis_Smith · Apr 29
Imagine what politics would look like if more pols showed the chops that @GovernorOMalley did yesterday http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/04/28/martin-omalley-takes-a-walking-tour-of-an-angry-baltimore/ …

Boyd Brown @HBoydBrown · Apr 29
Great read on "Citizen O'Malley" volunteering and leading in his hometown. http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-04-29/martin-o-malley-baltimore-s-prodigal-mayor-gets-to-work …

Patrick Mellody @OneMellody · 11h 11 hours ago
...A must read from a true Baltimorer. GovernorOMalley: We Are Capable of More http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gov-martin-omalley/we-are-capable-of-more_b_7179780.html …”

Theodore M. Jamison @tmj4ever · 10h 10 hours ago
This is why I like Martin O'Malley: He tells it like it is. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/blog/bal-omalley-its-not-just-policing-20150430-story.html …

Jake Tapper @jaketapper · 5h 5 hours ago
Exclusive: @GovernorOMalley defends #Baltimore record in an interview http://cnn.it/1JEyiRM #TheLead

...by the way, O'Malley came and engaged the public for three days. Where was the 'riot?'

[djean111]

14. Oh, I am not disputing that at all! But - they will be petty, and people believe what

they read. As I said, this was brought over to DU when it happened.

[qwlauren35]

17. Thank you for being thorough.

I really appreciate it.

[bigtree]

9. it's kind of a shame, really

...political judgments about politicizing. It's almost as if those judgments have been contrived to keep high profile legislators from fully embracing causes like this. Where can they actually get involved where they won't be open to such criticisms?

Personally? I'd cheer them on and express my gratitude for their interest and attention.

[okaawhatever]

12. I do think Elijah Cummings is uniquely qualified to be at any civil rights protest. That this one

was in his district even more so. I don't think Congressman Cummings would be viewed as an opportunist if he went into someone else's district to support protesters, but I can't really say the same about other members of Congress. (If there are other civil rights icons in Congress please educate me)

[okaawhatever]

10. Yes, he's also the only candidate who was mayor of Baltimore & Gov of Maryland. Coincidence? nt

[bigtree]

13. I'm going to change the title just so this engaging article doesn't get shit on

...by complaints about my editorializing lede.

[NYC_SKP]

15. I get that alot!

Usually it's an indication that they have no substantive rebuttal.

[bigtree]

16. totally my fault

...inserting an argument that had nothing to do with the article.