MarylandReporter.com: Commentary: O’Malley speech well delivered but not reality-based
For those of us who anticipated that Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley would establish a more statesmanlike persona in his address to the Democratic National Convention, we didn’t reckon with his likely reaction to the reaction to his misstep on CBS Sunday. In that venue he had made a major political error in answering CBS reporter Bob Schieffer’s erecting of the famous Ronald Reagan challenge to then-president Jimmy Carter in 1980: are you better off than you were four years ago?
“No, but that’s not the question of this election,” O’Malley replied, and then his answer trailed off, and the Republicans focused on the “No” reflex, with Republican Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan, along with others, arguing that O’Malley’s answer demonstrated that not even a Democratic partisan could argue that their president was anything but a Jimmy Carter reborn, at least in economic policy. It didn’t help that Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter quickly rebuked the Maryland governor.
Thus in his speech – nearly perfectly delivered – the Governor gave no quarter: the president had inherited a situation comparable to what President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had inherited from Herbert Hoover – a depression?
He paid homage, as one might expect quite reasonable, to the “Forward, not back” mantra of his party in a rousing, if somewhat worn responsive exchange with the Democratic conventioneers.
O’Malley focused on the consecutive months of job growth, rather than the extent of job growth – rhetorically acceptable selectivity in the convention venue. There was no reference to the unemployment statistics, the deficit or the debt, not really required in a supportive convention speech.
But O’Malley went through the “loves millionaires, hates regular citizens” riff that defines the Democratic knee-jerk cheerleaders of his party (“Mitt Romney says he will cut taxes for millionaires and raise them for the middle class” – Mitt Romney “said” that only in the Governor’s mind).
In his most over-the-top rhetoric, Gov. O’Malley stated, “Instead of investing in America, they hide their money in Swiss bank accounts and ship our jobs to China!… let’s ask the leaders in the Republican party–without any anger, meanness or fear: How much less, do you really think, would be good for our country? How much less education would be good for our children? How many hungry American kids can we no longer afford to feed? Governor Romney: How many fewer college degrees would make us more competitive as a nation?”
Governor O’Malley may have righted himself with his Democratic brothers and sisters, and especially the Democratic principals and donors he will need for national office, but he surely was not the reasonable, reality-based Howard Baker of his party.
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Professor Vatz teaches political rhetoric at Towson University and is author of The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion (Kendall Hunt, 2012, 2013)
Read more: http://marylandreporter.com/2012/09/05/commentary-omalley-speech-well-delivered-but-not-reality-based/#ixzz25bYL37KY
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
David Taylor
12:17 pm on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Does the patch have any non-partisan writers covering politics, or just this right-wing professor guy?
Not that I'm qualified or volunteering, but it's getting old just hearing one POV all the time.
Adam Bednar
1:00 pm on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
David,
Richard Vatz is an unpaid blogger. If anyone wants to write contrary opinions we are glad to provide them an opportunity to do so. In fact, we actively recruit bloggers from both sides of the fence. Both Akim Reinhardt and Sean Tully post blogs on the websites that are often contrary to the opinions expressed by Vatz. With all of the political news Vatz has been very prodigious, and we appreciate his efforts. If you would recommend someone that would be interested in creating a blog here or cross posting one they are already writing we would be more than happy to reach out to them.
Thanks,
Adam
MarJo
12:42 pm on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
I agree. And i don't see how one could call it "over-the-top rhetoric" when Mitt Romney does, in fact, have Swiss bank accounts, and Bain and Romney did, in fact, invest millions in China and ship many thousands of jobs there. And okay, maybe Romney has not literally said, verbatim, that he'll cut taxes for the rich and raise them for the middle class, but that is exactly what his plan will do.
JD1
1:13 pm on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
MarJo - really - raise taxes on the middle class? You mean like a 3% alcohol tax and increased tolls? MOM is hardly the person to talk about taking it easy on us working folks. We should investigate his in-laws finances and see what turns up. O'Malley is pathetic andI loved how the Dems scheduled him at 9:55 before the major networks started covering the convention at 10. Heirs still choking on the left foot he shoved in his mouth over the weekend. His speech sounded like a high school kid at a pep rally. I was so disappointed - I wanted to hear all about he "alabaster cities" from reverend O'Malley again but instead he took the left wing cheerleader route. Obama is done - people know an empty suit when they see one. His big smile and swag got him four years, that's enough.
John OHare
1:02 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Marjo,
Let's talk about facts and how Hypocritical O'Malley was in his statements.
Where are the facts that Romney hid his money in Swiss Bank accounts?
How do you know that Romney invested millions of dollars in China? Bill Clinton signed into law the "Free Trade Agreement" which has led to the loss of thousands of American jobs. Every major Corperation in America is now outsourcing and I am sure Bain Capital was one of them. Neither party wants to really address this issue.
O'Malley has just passed a major budget bill which will increase tuition costs. There were no provisions to reduce education cost for middle or lower income families. He did take care of the immigrants living in Maryland.
O'Malley's new budget increases taxes and cost for every person living in Maryland regardless of income. He did not call it a tax increase but your cost of living in Maryland is going to go up. Was he thinking about how people were going to feed their children when he pushed the this bill through? I think not.
Dave
1:08 pm on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
What really burns my britches about Mr. Vatz is that he claims to be an independent, yet he consistently espouses Republican talking points and the Republican perspective.
Dave
1:11 pm on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Romney's idea for reforming the student loan system is to ask people to borrow money from their parents to pay for college. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
JD1
9:29 pm on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
And Obama's idea is give out unlimited loans to everyone. Colleges keep jacking up tuition and delivering a sub par education. Students graduate (maybe) unqualified to do anything and can't get jobs all the while paying interest on loans in deferment. 20 years from now, former students are I their 40's and still paying off huge college loans while Obama publishes his memoirs for a couple of million bucks. You are right - Obama's idea about making college "affordable" is the best...are you kidding??!! Colleges have priced themselves out of the market without loans. Obama should be working towards tuition reductions and not loan approvals.
ll3
4:55 pm on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
There do happen to be those of us who appreciate reading Mr. Vatz's insights.
Perhaps he is, in fact, an independent who happens to agree with the Republicans this time.
Dave
8:36 pm on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
II3,
I'm not advocating the removal or Mr. Vatz's blog. It's never a bad idea to read a different perspective. However, I have read Mr. Vatz's opinions and listened to him speak on WYPR for about ten years. I can assure you this is not a just "this time" situation. Mr. Vatz consistently mirrors the Republican party platform. My only guess is that he labels himself an independent so that he can maintain that image as a professor of rhetoric at Towson. The reality is, with very, very few exceptions (too few for me to be able to cite any from memory), his arguments lie squarely with the Republican party and the conservative side at that. (Not that there is much left in the Republican party other than right wing conservatives). I long for moderate Republicans who can have honest discussions with the Democratic party about where we are and where we should go as a country.
Dave
11:20 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012
JD1,
You say, "And Obama's idea is to give out unlimited loans to everyone." Well apparently Obama is gonna collect on those loans:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/business/once-a-student-now-dogged-by-collection-agencies.html?hp
Both the price for an undergraduate degree and the student loan system need to be re-examined. Student loans are going to be the next housing bubble (although probably not quite as big of a bubble). They are packaged and re-packaged just like home loans were/are.
JD1
8:22 pm on Sunday, September 9, 2012
Funny how this is hardly "common" knowledge. Meanwhile, kids are accumulating huge debt and believe the BS that the dems are spouting about making college affordable. Why aren't MOM and BO warning students about burying themselves in debt? Why does tuition at state schools increase each year? Exactly how will BO and MOM make college "affordable?". I guess the same way people lease cars that they can't afford or finance them for ten years. Do the folks who vote in these fools understand how bad they are getting duped?
Edward V tindel
9:25 am on Friday, March 15, 2013
im not voting for him,no way and no how http://dontvotemartinomalley.renthandy.com/
Edward V tindel
11:10 am on Tuesday, March 19, 2013
THE ONLY WAY I WOULD VOTE FOR O,MALLEY IS TO VOTE HIM OUT OF OFFICE
http://dontvotemartinomalley.renthandy.com/