May 7, 2015

"What Martin O’Malley Hopes to Learn from Gary Hart"

Time Magazine article about O'Malley's long-term ties to veteran campaigners and supporters of Gary Hart:

http://time.com/3848055/martin-omalley-gary-hart/

May 7, 2015

Martin O'Malley Interviewed by James Fallows

Here is a link to a video of Martin O'Malley's interview with James Fallows:

http://www.esri.com/events/redlands-forum

May 6, 2015

Tad Devine and Bernie Sanders' Campaign Strategy

Here is an article written for the National Journal in 2014 (by Rebecca Nelson) that might shed some light on Bernie Sanders' campaign strategy:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/this-is-how-bernie-sanders-will-run-for-president-20141113

May 6, 2015

"The Problem with Bernie Sanders," by Ashley Smith

Ashley Smith, from socialistworker.org, believes that Bernie's running as a democrat will help Hillary Clinton more than it will help the plight of workers in this country.

http://socialistworker.org/2015/05/05/problem-bernie-sanders

It is a long article, and any summary would not do justice to the numerous points it makes.

May 4, 2015

Comparing Positions of the Democratic Candidates, from the Washington Post

A Simple Guide to the Real Differences Between the Democratic Candidates for President

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/05/04/these-are-the-real-differences-between-the-democratic-candidates/

What interests me here is Bernie's alleged position against gun control. Otherwise, his positions and those of O'Malley seem identical.

It seems odd to me that the Washington Post considers O'Malley to be a candidate, even before he has announced.

May 4, 2015

The Real Problem for Republicans: Too Much Money

My Summary:

Republicans have an unusual problem this election season: Too much money. The involvement of billionaires allows a proliferation of candidates, without the usual winnowing out process of candidates who fall by the wayside when they run out of money.

Excerpt and Link:

Primaries are a killing field. Their purpose is to kill nonviable contenders and get their bodies off the field as quickly as possible. Then the party can close ranks around the winner. But if the dying candidates still have money, they can continue to campaign, harass the front-runner, collect votes and win delegates.
....

Where is all the money coming from? It’s not the “one percent” — it’s the top one percent of the one percent. The billionaires who have been making out like bandits while working Americans are falling further and further behind. Graham told New Hampshire voters, “What I worry about is that we are turning campaigns over to about 100 people in this country, and they are going to be able to advocate their cause at the expense of your cause.”

Case in point: Billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, who say they are prepared to spend nearly a billion dollars to elect a Republican. So far, they’ve narrowed their choice to five candidates (Cruz, Walker, Bush, Rubio and Paul).

Gingrich said recently that wealthy donors could decide, “This year, instead of buying a new yacht, I’m going to spend $70 million on a candidate.”

Yachts, candidates — all playthings for the super-rich.

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/05/03/why-2016-candidates-may-not-know-when-theyre-beaten/

May 3, 2015

Email Just Now from O'Malley

Wake Up Call

This week in Baltimore should be a wake-up call for our entire nation.

The problem is that we have built an economy that's leaving whole parts of Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York - so many people - behind. People are not being heard – they are frustrated; they are angry; and they feel like they are not needed in our economy. Extreme poverty breeds conditions for extreme violence.

We need an agenda for American cities. We need to stop ignoring people of color and we need to stop acting like they are disposable citizens in this nation. That's not how our economy is supposed to work or how our country works.

I’ve spent my whole life on criminal justice issues. My very first job out of law school was as a prosecutor on the West Side of Baltimore, a place now familiar from the images of these last sad several days. When I was mayor, we cut down violent crime, but we also improved how we train and police the police, and we made investments in drug treatment programs to strengthen the community.

In Maryland, as Governor, I worked to reduce incarceration to 20-year lows. We were able to reduce our recidivism by 15%, and also at the same time reduce violent crime down to 35-year lows. I signed legislation to decriminalize marijuana possession and other minor charges.

This is constant work. It is not done. We still have a lot of work left to do.

I am more inclined and more deeply motivated now to address what's wrong with our country and what needs to be healed and what needs to be fixed.

In Baltimore, we are not defeated as a city, and we are not about to throw in the towel on our country.

Martin O'Malley

PS. I talked about this on Meet the Press today – I want to hear from you. Let me know what you think and share this so we can make this work a priority.

http://action.martinomalley.com/page/m/302289d7/4c037376/2e9194af/50a48e50/138478769/VEsH/

May 3, 2015

Returned to Baltimore

O'Malley had a lot to lose by appearing on the streets of Baltimore. He was heckled by passers-by. He was trashed by a fiction-writer who made money by trashing Baltimore in a sensationalized TV caricature of that city and its mayor. But O'Malley did return to Baltimore and he took the heat, not for photo-ops, but because he genuinely loves the city he has lived in most of his life and that loved him enough in return to give him 91% of their votes. His interview on MTP this morning was quite stirring and emotional. I believe he has honesty and courage, and I respect him more every time I see or hear him. He is not flashy, but he is a decent and logical man who reads Thomas Merton and theology in the morning. And I believe his executive experience, including the things that went terribly wrong, has taught him how to govern with compassion and nuance.

I'm not sure he will enter the race. I think he would like to, because he thinks that he has something to contribute in these very troubled times. I think that, as president, he would not be as confrontational as Bernie, but perhaps more effective. Bernie is like a prophet in the wilderness. He tells us why these are hard times, and he shows us exactly who is to blame. But prophets usually have only a handful of followers, and their job is to clear the way for those able to do the hard work of incremental change. Many people here, like myself, would do anything to get Bernie nominated and elected. But is he the right person to be president? Leading the country is not the same as leading a protest march.

Having said that, IMHO, either Bernie or O'Malley would easily defeat any of the republicans now in the field. They would simply tell the truth in their own way, and the truth would burn through the republicans' shabby veil of "patently BS" absurdities and contradictions.

May 2, 2015

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.

April 30, 2015

Just Received This Email Message from Martin O'Malley

Here is the text of the email (also online here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gov-martin-omalley/we-are-capable-of-more_b_7179780.html)

We Are Capable of More

All of us who love Baltimore have experienced a week of profound sadness and tears.

The images of these last days are now seared into our collective memory as a people -- a new senior citizen center engulfed in flames, a new drugstore burning. Small neighborhood grocery stores looted and burning. Police cars and neighbors' cars vandalized and burning.

Perhaps many of us, for the first time, felt a sense of the constant state of vulnerability that so many of our black neighbors must feel every day, and feel especially for their sons growing up in the United States of America today.

The burning anger in the heart of our city -- broadcast around the world -- reminded all of us of a hard truth. It is a truth we must face as a nation. Because it is a truth that threatens our children's future. It is the reality that eats away at the heart of America and the very survival of the American Dream we share.

The hard, truthful reality is this: growing numbers of our fellow citizens in American cities across the United States feel unheard, unseen, unrecognized -- their very lives un-needed.

This is not just about policing in America. This is about everything it is supposed to mean to be an American.

As Dr. Martin Luther King once said, "a riot is the language of the unheard." And, this week the people of our city and our entire country were forced to listen.

Listen to the anger of young American men who are growing into adulthood with grim prospects of survival and even lesser prospects of success.

Listen to the fears of young men with little hope of a finding a summer job, let alone, a job that might one day support a family.

Listen to the silent scream within the vacant hearts of young American boys who feel that America has forgotten them, that America doesn't care about them, that America wishes not to look at them, that America wishes they would go away or be locked away.

Surely this cannot be the enduring legacy of the birthplace of the Star Spangled Banner.

Surely this is not what has become of the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Surely we are capable of more as a nation.

Justice must be done in investigating the tragic death of Mr. Freddie Gray. His family deserves our deepest sympathy and respect for their loss, and our admiration for their courage in calling us, as a city, to act as our better selves. Our mayor, our police chief, and our states' attorney -- all of whom happen to be black -- are committed to the open and transparent pursuit of justice.

Mr. Gray's case was not the first police-involved death in our city, or our country. Sadly, we know his will not be the last. Every loss of life demands that we seek answers, justice, and a better understanding for the future.

We must continue to work constantly to improve policing and the way we police our police. Public trust is essential to public safety. Public trust is essential for officer safety. Enlightened police chiefs across our country understand this.

Let's talk about policing and public safety. Let's debate what works and what does not. We must abandon practices that do not work, and do more of the things that actually do work to save lives.

Let's expand drug treatment and find smarter ways to protect society from repeat violent offenders while incarcerating fewer of our citizens.

Let's do more of the things like body cameras, and the timely and standard reporting of police-involved shootings, excessive force, and discourtesy complaints so that we can improve public trust for public safety.

But make no mistake about it, the anger that we have seen in Ferguson, in Cleveland, in Staten Island, in North Charleston, and in the flames of Baltimore is not just about policing.

It is about the legacy of race that would have us devalue black lives -- whether their death is caused by a police officer or at the hand of another young black man.

It is about declining wages and the lack of opportunity in our country today.

It is about the brutality of an economic system that devalues human labor, human potential, and human lives.

It is about the lie that we make of the American Dream when we put the needs of the most powerful wealthy few ahead of the well-being of our nation's many.

Extreme poverty is extremely dangerous.

This is not just about policing. Not just about race.

It is about the country we are allowing ourselves to become and the affront it is to the country we are meant to be.

Our belief as a nation commits us to "liberty and justice for all." Now is the time -- for the sake of all of our children -- to reform our ways and start living up to that creed again.

This is not too much to expect of one another. This is not much to ask of one another. We are Americans and we are still capable of re-making our future. And this generation of Americans still has time to be called great.

But only our actions can save us.

Only our actions going forward can heal the wounded-ness we all must now feel.

We must believe in one another again.

If we believe together, we have the ability to listen to one another, and to hear each other, and to better understand one another and the powerful truths that unite us.

We are still capable of acting like the compassionate, and generous, and caring people our grandparents expected us to become and that our children need for us to be.

For, surely, there is no such thing as a spare American.