Martin O’Malley’s Presidential Strategy: Try, Try, Try Again

[Raine1967]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rubycramer/martin-omalleys-presidential-strategy-try-try-try-again#.ysbOEBJmg

I really liked this article, it talks about both Iowa State dinner and what happened at Net Roots nation. Much more than the little cut and past I am putting here, so I hope everyone reads this. It really does show a stark difference between the three campaigns and the candidates.

At every point this weekend — as Clinton and Sanders held to their carefully hewn strategies — O’Malley telegraphed, with trademark persistence, that no matter how bad the polls look, he is the candidate who simply won’t go away: who will work harder and mingle longer, who will shake more hands, answer more questions, propose more policy, be the most progressive and most aggressive — the candidate who will always engage.

He has, now 50 days into his campaign, taken almost every opportunity

While Clinton draws headlines about her “strained relations” with the press, O’Malley’s staff rarely turns a reporter away. (On Friday night, his super PAC invited members of the media to an afterparty with the sign-carrying field organizers. “It’s open-press and we promise no rope-lines,” an official said in an email, adding a smiling emoticon. The Clinton cheer-squad, meanwhile, said they weren’t allowed to talk to reporters.)

And while other Democrats in the race, including Sanders, don’t often go after Clinton, O’Malley makes a habit of it — indirectly, at least. (In his Iowa speech, he stressed his support for a $15 minimum wage, days after Clinton declined to endorse it, and suggested she was slow to oppose “bad trade deals” like the Trans-Pacific Partnership.)

But there was no greater show of the O’Malley method than inside the Phoenix Convention Center on Saturday morning — when activists aligned with Black Lives Matter, a social justice group, upended a presidential forum at Netroots Nation.

[Renew Deal]

1. I noticed he was the hardest working

And I'm glad others are too.

[Koinos]

2. O'Malley is indefatigable.

He does not run away from challenges. He takes criticism to heart and continually tries to do better. I view that as presidential timber.

[elleng]

3. 'no greater show of the O’Malley method than inside the Phoenix Convention Center'

really says it all, but I'm afraid many DUers decided to ignore it.

[Koinos]

4. Everyone has intellectual and emotional filters:

They see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear, believe what they want to believe; and nothing else gets through. The problem is worse for some than it is for others, but it is a human tendency.

In terms of candidates, one has to see both their weaknesses and their strengths, and then choose on that basis. If you say that your candidate has no weaknesses and other people's candidates have only weaknesses, objectivity becomes impossible.

It is tempting to fixate on one statement or action and forget the rest, and it is tempting to make each relative item into an absolute.

One must be attuned to nuance, and that isn't easy. I just hope it doesn't take into the next presidential election for people to appreciate what O'Malley has to offer.

I do think though that he is starting to grow on people.

[elleng]

5. Thanks so much for this, Koinos; perfect timing.

SO TRUE, NUANCE very important, and MANY don't bother with it because they can't or just won't.

Will be awful if enough people fail to recognize what O'Malley has to offer.

[Koinos]

6. "Awful" is the perfect word to describe what would happen.

The country can't afford to wait for the next presidential election to have their eyes opened.

O'Malley is young, but the country and the planet are on the brink. I am bewildered at how O'Malley's climate change proposals went past most people, while they strained at "this" or "that."

It is similar to a student getting perfect grades in most courses, but someone makes a big issue of the "C" he or she got in one or two courses.

All I can say is that O'Malley has more faith in human nature and more optimism about humans' willingness to solve problems than I have.

[elleng]

7. Yes, he appears to be very optimistic,

which is good; someones should be. I consider myself 'pragmatic,' which isn't always the sunniest place to be.

Very happy you're here, Koinos.

[Koinos]

8. Well, I guess I would call myself a John Dewey pragmatic idealist.

In other words, I think I need a nap.

[elleng]

9. :-)

[FSogol]

10. +1 n/t