Democrat Martin O'Malley sought to take on the party frontrunner, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, at his presidential campaign launch Saturday morning, but some of his fellow Baltimoreans tried to turn the subject to his record as mayor of Charm City and his tough-on-crime tactics then.
O'Malley chose to embrace the city in announcing his longshot campaign, with a rally and speech atop historic Federal Hill in the heart of Baltimore. A local act, the Kelly Bell Band, warmed up the crowd on a warm, sticky morning, and the Baltimore School of the Arts choir sang the national anthem.
Baltimore's Inner Harbor and sparkling downtown highrises served as a backdrop, as O'Malley launched into a condemnation of the dying American Dream and his promise to revive it. He struck an inclusive, populist tone, going after Clinton by name, implying she is a crony of Wall Street.
"Recently, the CEO of Goldman Sachs let his employees know that he'd be just fine with either [Jeb] Bush or Clinton," O'Malley noted. "Well, I've got news for the bullies of Wall Street: The presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth by you between two royal families." That drew roars from the young, diverse crowd, one of his biggest applause lines of the day. O'Malley also called for the return of Glass-Steagall, a Depression-era financial law that separated commercial from investment banking. It was repealed in 1999 under Clinton's husband, then-President Bill Clinton.
It was some of O'Malley's most direct language yet, both about Wall Street and Clinton, and gave a hint of how he hopes to tack to her left in the primary.
Even as he does, O'Malley will continue to confront questions about his own record on criminal justice and race relations. The campaign launch took place less than three miles and yet a world away from Sandtown-Winchester, the inner-city neighborhood that was home to Freddie Gray, the young African-American man who died in police custody last month. Gray's death, like a string of others at the hands of police in recent months, set off an uprising in this majority-black city. And it's raised questions about O'Malley's legacy when he was mayor here from 1999 through 2006. Specifically, critics blame his zero-tolerance policing policies, which ratcheted up arrests, for fracturing relations between African-American communities and the Baltimore police.
O'Malley called the night of protests and looting after Gray's death "a heartbreaking night in the life of our city." But he maintained that "what took place here was not only about race, not only about policing in America," but also about "extreme poverty and an economic and political system that is upside down and backwards."
Among the people who spoke ahead of O'Malley was Robert Newlin, an African-American community activist,who credited O'Malley with helping turn around his crime-ridden neighborhood, "one of the worst communities in Maryland."
"We love him," Newlin said.
But O'Malley couldn't escape that cloud of doubt on Saturday. A headline on the front page of the Baltimore Sun read: "O'Malley to make presidential announcement amid revived criticism of Baltimore policing policies." And even as the former mayor spoke of compassion and justice, a small group of hecklers shouted in the background and blew whistles, chanting "black lives matter" and holding a sign that read, "stop killer cops." A larger planned protest was canceled, however, after the campaign made clear the attendees would have to stay in a separate, fenced-in area, the Sun reported
O'Malley, who served two terms as governor between 2007 and 2014, barely registers in the early primary polls. He has a daunting task in trying to catch Clinton and even Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont whose Democratic campaign has excited the party's liberal wing.
The 52-year-old is hoping to win over Democratic voters by selling himself as an experienced, solutions-oriented political leader and at the same time a fresh face for the party after decades of Clintons at the forefront. Even his slogan, "New Leadership," is a dig at the 67-year-old Clinton.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Emily spearheads Newsweek's day-to-day coverage of politics from Washington, D.C. She has been covering U.S. politics, Congress and foreign affairs ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
