Martin O’Malley should cancel any “O’Malley for President” campaign signs he’s ordered fast. His candidacy is doomed.
The former governor of Maryland and former mayor of Baltimore was already a long shot against Hillary Clinton — before the fires raged.
The city he governed for seven years now looks more like a war zone than a metropolitan oasis. That’s not presidential bumper-sticker fodder.
Protesters filled the streets after Freddie Gray’s funeral Monday. The 25-year-old died from spinal injuries he sustained while in police custody, and the city boiled over in rage.
The riots have shined a spotlight on the deplorable economic malaise in Baltimore and the tensions between the community and law enforcement have hit a new low.
Democrats, including O’Malley, have run the city since 1967. Many are now blaming the liberal policies for the current problems plaguing blacks.
Just look at the frightening jobless figures. For young blacks in Baltimore, age 20 to 24, the unemployment rate is 37 percent. That’s compared to 10 percent in the same age bracket for white men, the most recent U.S. Census Bureau figures state.
That won’t help in a race for president.
O’Malley’s favorite stump speech points to how he reduced crime as mayor of Baltimore by using a “zero tolerance” policy. Critics claim the policy created the hostile relationship between cops and the community that flared this week.
O’Malley, realizing he’s in trouble, is taking on the negative publicity about his city and trying to spin it as a reason he should be president. “There is nobody else among those who might run that has had the experience I have had of living this and working this every day for the last 15 years,” he told The New York Times.
Americans don’t want someone who is just familiar with these issues haunting urban cities, they want someone who has solved problems. No one is looking to Baltimore as anything but a disaster.
Meanwhile, O’Malley was in Europe when the riots broke out on paid speaking appearances. He did drop all and jet home.
But he should have stayed in London and collected the cash, because those appearance fees will dry up soon enough — unless people want to learn how Baltimore became unglued.
Jaclyn Cashman co-hosts “Morning Meeting” from 9 a.m. to noon on Boston Herald Radio. Follow her on Twitter @JaclynCashman.
Copyright © 2024 Jaclyn Cashman.
