O’Malley 2016 Just Committed Suicide in Baltimore - By Jackie Kucinich

[MADem]

63. It's mostly narrative and quotes. It doesn't seem necessarily "hit piece-y" to me, to be honest.

It seems more like an evaluation that comes to the conclusion that this candidate hasn't "caught on" and he's squandered what opportunity he might have had. The big finish is all opinion, but it comes off like a valid assessment. You are probably right about the headline, I'll bet--because the conclusion doesn't match the headline. It's not suicide, it's more like a petering out, if anything.

But the former Maryland governor was not only the former head of the Democratic Governor’s Association, he has spent years laying the foundation for a presidential run. During the last several months, he’s oh-so-gently poking at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on everything from her age to the Clinton Foundation to her Wall Street ties.

And yet, for some reason, no one is listening.

But he’s still a serious contender for the White House. Because…he’s a Democrat who is thinking about running for president?

Is that really a reason?

Anything is possible, of course, when it comes to presidential races. The media love to build up unlikely contenders, at least for a little while. Long shots do rise to the top, from time to time. But after O’Malley’s less-than-warm welcome back to his hometown, this does not appear to be one of those occasions. Perhaps now we can all stop pretending he’s a real rival to Hillary Clinton.

O’Malley’s failure to take hold of this moment in the city he has staked so much of his reputation as an executive on is puzzling. But his failure to realize this Baltimore reunion would open up old, deep wounds in a community that has not quite forgiven him for tough policing policies—is politically tone deaf, at best.

O’Malley’s presence on the ground in Baltimore probably didn’t make the situation there any worse, but it sure didn’t make O’Malley’s presidential dreams any more real.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026598870