Martin O’Malley: A Liberal Rock ‘N Roll President?
Maybe it’s time for a president who is also a rock ‘n roll musician to be elected in 2016. Given that Republicans can offer up former Arkansas Governor and rocker Mike Huckabee, maybe former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is the Democratic answer, suggests Yahoo Finance, who asked in an article, “Is America Ready for a Liberal Rock ‘n Roll President?”
O’Malley is expected to announce his candidacy for president in Baltimore this coming Saturday, the city where he was once city councilor and then mayor. Martin O’Malley also sings and plays guitar and banjo in a Irish rock band called O’Malley’s March. A former two-term governor of Maryland, O’Malley is viewed as a mainstream liberal Democrat somewhere between the two candidates who have announced their candidacies for the Democratic nomination for 2016, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator, and self-described socialist, Bernie Sanders.
O’Malley first got involved in politics, supporting the presidential candidacy of Colorado Senator Gary Hart, who ran against former vice president Walter Mondale in 1984. After serving as city councilor and mayor of Baltimore, O’Malley was elected twice as governor of Maryland.
O’Malley opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement because he says it would “hurt middle class wages and ship middle class jobs overseas.” He favors stronger regulations of the U.S. financial industry, and is generally liberal on social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. As reported by the Inquisitr in 2012, he signed legislation legalizing same-sex marriages via civil unions.
The New York Times reported that O’Malley is getting ready to throw his hat in the ring as a candidate for president for 2016. O’Malley has been preparing for the race and raising money, as well, over the last few weeks.
“Mr. O’Malley is trying to present himself as the liberal alternative to Mrs. Clinton, who has done a lot to position herself to the left already — with one notable exception being her lack of a clear stand on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal,” the New York Times reported.
Martin O’Malley is viewed by many as being more progressive than Hillary Clinton, but more moderate than the self-described socialist, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Given his combination of youth, and appeal to the younger voters, and his positions on the issues being more attractive to the progressive base of his party, O’Malley might just be a very strong challenger to Hillary Clinton for the nomination.
[Photo by William B. Plowman / NBC / NBC NewsWire via Getty Images]
