10/13 Democratic Presidential Debate
Given the chance to shine his campaign has so desperately needed, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley achieved mixed success in his bid to position himself as the viable Progressive alternative to Sanders, yet performed strongly overall and has at least earned himself a position in the national spotlight, however brief.
O’Malley began and ended the debate strongly, presenting himself as the candidate most committed to green technology, boasting of his intention to enact reforms to power the American electrical grid 100% on renewables by 2050. In his closing statement, O’Malley also landed a harsh quip on the Republicans, commenting that “On this stage you didn’t hear anyone denigrate women, you didn’t hear anyone make racist comments about new immigrants, you didn’t hear anyone speak ill of anyone because of their religious belief.”
The former governor did not perform perfectly, however. In fact, O’Malley faltered several times, casually mistaking Russia’s Vladimir Putin for Syria’s embattled president Bashar al-Assad, commenting that he believes that “Assad’s invasion of Syria will be seen as a blunder.” Early in the debate, Secretary Clinton managed to land a compelling criticism of O’Malley, thanking the governor for supporting her 2008 run for the Democratic nomination. Arguably the candidate most open to the decriminalization of marijuana, O’Malley was trumped by Bernie Sanders, who affirmed that he would vote for the legalization of recreational marijuana if given the opportunity.
Significantly, when asked about the institution of zero tolerance policies under his leadership as mayor of Baltimore and his reputation for being tough on crime, O’Malley managed to deflect the criticism, stating that “arrests had actually fallen to a 38-year low in the year prior to the Freddie Gray’s tragic death” and that “together as a city, we saved a lot of lives. It was about leadership. It was about principle. And it was about bringing people together.” Later in the debate, O’Malley joined the rest of his party and redeemed himself after proclaiming over the summer that all lives matter, stating that “the Black Lives Matter movement is making is a very, very legitimate and serious point, and that is that as a nation we have undervalued the lives of black lives, people of color.”
Although Martin O’Malley certainly had his moments, his performance in the first Democratic debate was not sufficient to bring about the surge he desperately needs. That said, O’Malley’s campaign has only just now captured the public eye and can do nothing but improve from here. Perhaps the former governor has not captured the support he was looking for, but he certainly has earned his spot in the running.