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Related: About this forumWatch Martin O’Malley’s Announcement And Read Transcript
Martin OMalley officially announced he is running for the Democratic nomination for president today.Here are HillaryMojo, we support Hillary Clinton for president. But we also like the other Democratic candidates in the race. So on the day of his announcement, here is the video and transcript of Martin OMalleys speech.
Welcome to the campaign, Governor OMalley. We look forward to a spirited and substantive campaign.
Found on a post by Skinner. It's a CSPAN embed, which I don't know how to post so I found this, which I hope is the same.
Video:
Martin O'Malley Presidential Campaign Announcement
Egberto Willies - May 30, 2015
Transcript
1. INTRODUCTION
My fellow Americans.
I want to talk with you today about The American Dream we share its powerful history, its current condition, and most importantly, its urgent need for rebuilding.
Our nation was founded on two self-evident truths
That All of us are created equal.
And that we are endowed by our Creator with the rights to Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
With these words, the American dream began.
No fine print. No expiration date.
All of us are included.
Women and men.
Black and white people.
Irish Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans, Native Americans. Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Americans.
Young and old. Rich and poor. Workers and Business owners. Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and straight Americans.
Every person is important, each of us is needed.
In our idea of country, there is no such thing as a spare American.
There is, however, a growing injustice in our country today.
It is the gap between the strong and just country our children need for us to be, and the country we are in danger of becoming.
For today in America, seventy percent of us are earning the same or less than they were 12 years ago. This is the first time that has happened this side of World War II.
Today in America, family owned businesses and farms are struggling to compete with ever larger concentrations of corporate power,
Fifty years ago, the nations largest employer was GM. An average GM employee could pay for a years tuition at a state university with two weeks wages.
Today in America, with dreams of college, a decent paying job, and a secure retirement slipping beyond the reach of so very many, the American Dream seems to be hanging by a thread.
And yet, for America there is always a yet.
The final thread that holds us just might be the strongest.
It is the thread of the generosity, the compassion, and the love of one another that brings us together as One American People.
For over 200 years weve been the architects of our own future. And now we must build anew today.
My father and mother, Tom and Barbara OMalley, were born to the Great Depression and grew up as part of that great generation that won the Second World War. My dad flew 33 missions over Japan in a B-24 Liberator, and went on to college only because of the GI Bill.
My mom, herself, flew in the Civil Air Patrol at the age of seventeen.
They raised their children the six of us to a middle class future secured largely by the sacrifices and better choices of their generation.
But they would never accept the notion that somehow theirs was the greatest generation. For they believed and they taught us that every generation of Americans has the ability and the sacred responsibility to become great.
And so we must. No matter how long the odds, no matter how large the challenge, and no matter how tough the fight.
This is the urgent work calling us forward today: to rebuild the truth of the American Dream for ALL Americans. And to begin right now!
2. BALTIMORE/ECONOMY
Last month, television sets around the world were filled with the anger and the rage, and the flames of some of the humblest and hardest hit neighborhoods of Baltimore.
For all of us who have given so much of our energies to making our city a safer, fairer, more just and more prosperous place, it was a heartbreaking night in the life of our City.
But there is something to be learned from that night, and there is something to be offered to our country from those flames.
For what took place here was not only about race not only about policing in America.
Its about everything it is supposed to mean to be an American.
The scourge of hopelessness that happened to ignite here that evening, transcends race or geography.
Witness the record numbers of young white kids killing themselves with heroin in suburbs and small towns across America.
The hard truth of our shared reality is this: Unemployment in many American cities and in many small towns across the United States is higher now than it was eight years ago.
Conditions of extreme and growing poverty, create conditions for extreme violence.
We have work to do
Our economic and political system is upside down and backwards and it is time to turn it around.
What happened to our economy what happened to the American Dream did not happen by chance.
Nor was it merely the result of global forces somehow beyond our control.
Powerful, wealthy special interests here at home have used our government to create in our own country an economy that is leaving a majority of our people behind.
An economy that has so concentrated wealth in the hands of the very few that it has taken opportunity from the homes of the many.
An economy where a majority of our people are unheard, unseen, un-needed, and left to conclude that their lives and labors are literally worth less today than they were yesterday, And will be worth less still tomorrow
We are allowing our land of opportunity to be turned into a land of inequality.
Main Street struggles, while Wall Street soars.
Tell me how it is, that not a single Wall Street CEO was convicted of a crime related to the 2008 economic meltdown. Not. A. Single. One.
Tell me how it is, that you can get pulled over for a broken tail light in our country, but if you wreck the nations economy you are untouchable.
This is not how our economy is supposed to work!
This is not how our country is supposed to work!
This is not the American Dream!
And it does not have to be this way!
This generation still has time to become great.
We have saved the world before and we must save our country now and we will do that by rebuilding the American Dream!
3. THE AGENDA
As I look out here this morning over the original land of the free and the home of the brave, I see the faces of people who have done so much for so many in our City and our State.
Together, we made our City a safer, healthier and better place for kids.
Together, we made our city Believe again. We invented a new and better way of governing called CitiStat, and we got things done.
Together, we made our States public schools the best in the United States. We made college more affordable for more families.
We led our people forward through a devastating national recession. We took greater care to protect our land, our air, and the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.
We passed Marriage Equality and we passed the DREAM Act.
Together, we raised the minimum wage and we sustained the highest median income in America. We achieved top rankings for innovation, entrepreneurship, and minority and womens business development.
Yes, understanding precedes action.
And it took new leadership. New perspectives. And new approaches.
But we believed in the dream, together we took action to make it real, and that is exactly what we must do as a nation today.
Our economy isnt money, our economy is peopleall of our people.
We measure success by the growing prosperity and security of our peopleall of our people.
A stronger middle class is not the consequence of economic growth a stronger middle class is the cause of economic growth.
Together, as one nation we must build an American economy that works again for all of us.
That means good jobs and wage policies that allow hardworking families to actually get ahead. That means a higher minimum wage, overtime pay for overtime work, and respect for the rights of all workers to organize and collectively bargain for better wages.
If we take these actions the dream will live again.
Climate change is real. We must create an American jobs agenda to build a new renewable energy future.
We must launch a new agenda to rebuild Americas cities as places of Justice and Opportunity for all.
And if we take these actions the dream will live again.
For the sake of our countrys security, and our countrys well-being, and our countrys economic growth, we must also bring 11 million of our neighbors out of the shadows by passing comprehensive immigration reform.
Because the enduring symbol of our nation is not the barbed wire fence, it is the Statue of Liberty.
We are a nation of immigrants. We are a compassionate and generous people. And if we act according to our principlesand the better angels of our natureif we return to our true selves, the dream will live again.
Make no mistake about it our ability to lead the world and be safe in this world depends on the strength of the American Dream here at home. The challenges we face in the world today are different from the challenges we faced in the 1990s.
Together, we must construct a New National Security Strategy and build new alliances that are forward-seeing and forward-acting.
The center of this new strategy must be the reduction of threats. Fast-evolving threats from violent extremism, pandemic, cyber attacks, nuclear proliferation, nation-state failures, to the drought, famine, and floods of climate change.
Together, we must craft a New Foreign Policy of Engagement and Collaboration. We must join with like-minded people around the world especially with nations here in our own hemisphere for the cause we share of a rising global middle class.
We must put our national interest first, we must put America first.
But we cannot rebuild the American Dream here at home by catering to the voices of the privileged and the powerful.
Lets be honest. They were the ones who turned our economy upside-down in the first place. And they are the only ones who are benefiting from it.
We need to prosecute cheats, we need to reinstate Glass-Steagall, and if a bank is too big to fail without wrecking our nations economy then it needs to be broken up before it breaks us again.
Goldman Sachs is one of the biggest repeat-offending investment banks in America. Recently, the CEO of Goldman Sachs let his employees know that hed be just fine with either Bush or Clinton.
I bet he would
Well, Ive 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.
It is a sacred trust to be earned from the people of the United States, and exercised on behalf of the people of the United States.
The only way we are going to rebuild the American Dream is if we re-take control of our own American government!
4. CONCLUSION
The poet laureate of the American Dream, Bruce Springsteen, once asked:
Is a dream a lie, if it dont come true? Or is it something worse?
Whether the American dream becomes a lie, or becomes an ongoing truth that our children can enjoy, can build upon, can live, is really up to you and me.
It is up to all of us.
Its not about Wall Street, not about the big five banks, its not even about big money trying to buy our elections.
Its about U.S.
It is about whether, together, We the People still have the will to become great Americans.
I believe we do.
My decision is made.
Now you will all have a vital choice to make next year, for the good of your families, and for the good of the country you love and carry in your hearts.
It is a choice that people will ask you about for years to come.
And so, when a child with a world of learning ahead asks who you voted for, I want you to be able to tell that child, I voted for you.
When you see a dad sweating through another long shift in order to give his daughter a better future, I want you to be able to tell him, I voted for you.
When you see a mom working long hours at two jobs for the dream of sending her son to college, I want you to be able to tell her, I voted for you.
When you see a young father who hungers for a decent job to support his family, I want you to be able to tell him, I voted for you.
The story of our countrys best days is not found in a history book, because this generation of Americans is about to write it!
And that is why today, to you and to all who can hear my voice I declare that I am a candidate for President of the United States and Im running for YOU.
May God Bless you and may God Bless the United States of America.
to Egberto Willies:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcgg5oVHV3ktWzbkbc52urQ
to David Allen:
http://www.hillarymojo.com/2015/05/30/watch-martin-omalleys-announcement-and-read-transcript/
I didn't know much about O'Malley but I really am EXCITED about our candidates for 2016!
Black Lives Matter came to protest him, so there is more to tell. Their protests are on the sidebar. I can post them if anyone asks, but this is quite a long post already.
They are three in some short videos on the sidebar to learn more. This is an important state with a long history and the city of Baltimore. There are other O'Malley videos are there, so he is well known.
Enjoy, O'Malley fans.
panfluteman
(2,168 posts)...but so was the last guy. He's definitely an eloquent, impassioned speaker and orator...but so was the last guy. It seems like he is a real man of the people, and has done a lot of good work at the state and local level...but ditto for the last guy. Seems like he has a clear, correct agenda for where he would like to lead our country...but so did the last guy, and having an agenda is no guarantee of how successful you will be in implementing it once you get into office...as we saw with the last guy.
So - what is there about Martin O'Malley that could make me change my vote from Bernie Sanders to him??? If there's one thing that the last guy has taught us, it's to look much more closely at where his money and his campaign contributions are coming from: Who are his main backers? Definitely, he's probably more of a real populist than Hillary Clinton, but that's not saying much; Hillary set the bar pretty low on that score. And I would wager that, in all probability, he's not as much of a real populist as Bernie Sanders, who is not accepting any corporate money, to my knowledge; Bernie has set a very high bar for other candidates to follow in that respect.
There's one main thing that arouses my suspicions about this guy O'Malley - and that's that, immediately after he announced his candidacy for president, CNN blared on its headlines that now that O'Malley was in the race, that Hillary had competition. Well, pardon my French, CNN - but what about Bernie Sanders? Oh - it seems like he doesn't really count, because he's not accepting corporate money. Which leads me, by a fairly simple process of logical deduction to the conclusion that, if a corporate news outlet like CNN called O'Malley competition, and Bernie Sanders isn't - then O'Malley IS, and must be one of the usual gang of corporate supported candidates. To CNN, it's all a game of pay the corporate piper to play.
Does anyone out there know where O'Malley's money is coming from - who are his present financial backers, and who are likely to become his donors in the future? And I'll be more surprised than anyone else if he's NOT accepting any corporate money!
swilton
(5,069 posts)Last edited Sun May 31, 2015, 02:48 PM - Edit history (1)
Lived in Md for 13 years and worked on Townsend and Edwards (primary) campaigns - never worked on O'Malley campaigns.
This is not a plus or minus against O'Malley and only provided as background. Maryland is a Democratic state. When Townsend lost the 2002 election to Ehrlich it was a major upset as Md. hadn't had a Republican governor in 40 years. Ehrlich (w Steele (Republican Party Chairman for Md) as Lt. Gov.) kind of self destructed when he vetoed a bill to provide health insurance to company employees > 10,000. Then Montgomery County Council Chairman Doug Duncan and O'Malley were in the primary to challenge Ehrlich in 2003. Duncan had to back out due to depression, thus giving the Democratic primary to O'Malley. That as much as O'Malley's talent is how O'Malley got in.
Executive experience is not a plus or a minus - it's just different... candidates with records in Congress have networks and allies with which to draw upon...different assets that those with executive experience might not have.
The big question I have about O'Malley is his establishment relationships...You can't be a Maryland or Virginia governor without being connected to the establishment (government workers, contractors, opportunities for staff/cabinet positions)...Lived in the DC area for 30 + years and it is there wherever you live - even as far away as Baltimore...people commute to work in DC from farther away than that.
Furthermore, it's more than the nepotism/cronyism. Most critically damaging is that being close to Washington, DC breeds a lens of looking at the trees rather than the forest....In contrast I see as Sanders' strength is because he is from outside the DC area, he can be more distant and analytic about national problem solving than O'Malley or Clinton.
Following O'Malley's career - he supported Clinton in the Democratic Party primaries against O'bama and then spoke at the Democratic Party convention in 2008...so I take his 2015 statement about the presidency not being some competition between two families with a grain of salt. I also take his strides for marriage equality and abolishment of the death penalty as being low hanging fruit.....possibly posturing....again we've seen this before.....perhaps I'm a cynic but as I've pointed out, Maryland has had Democratic governors for 40 + years prior to the Townsend debacle.
Worked in Md. with numerous progressive groups to try to move Van Hollen to the left - can't say we were concerned about O'Malley which is neither a plus or a minus. But I'm just pointing out as one who followed the peace movement that Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson in what I considered a gutsy move boldly came out against the war - O'Malley in contrast made no such statement, even given that both Maryland senators opposed the war...
Offering the above - for my two cents...I am a Sanders supporter because I do feel- despite his imperfections (i.e., support for Israel) he is the closest the citizenry is going to get to an 'outside the establishment' candidate.
elleng
(136,317 posts)to conclude that O'Malley 'IS' and 'must be on of the usual gang of corporate supported candidates!
'Former Maryland governor Martin OMalley, gearing up for a Democratic presidential primary in which he will likely be massively outspent by Hillary Rodham Clinton, said Wednesday the modern campaign finance system had reduced elected officials to telemarketers.
Saying he plans a decision on whether to launch a White House bid soon, OMalley added any member of Congress should welcome publicly financed campaigns because the fund-raising demands prevent them from performing other work. He used a barnyard epithet to offer his opinion of the current system, which allows for unregulated money to flow to outside committees organized to support or oppose candidates.'
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/05/13/martin-omalley-criticizes-super-pacs-new-hampshire-visit/eXZMrF84CvcIOi4dPiRD6L/story.html
'Seven years after the Wall Street meltdown, Americans are still experiencing the fallout.
Although job creation rates and GDP along with bank bonuses and corporate profits are on the upswing, these statistics mask the lingering hardship of millions of families that traces back to Wall Streets reckless behavior. One study found that the crash cost every American $120,000.
We were forced to save our economy by bailing out big banks. Now, we have a responsibility to correct the mistakes of our more recent past to prevent another crash.
To do that, we must acknowledge that while it addressed inherent flaws in the financial system the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act did not go far enough.
The most serious structural reform we can make is reinstating the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act that kept commercial banks separate from investment banks. . .
tructural reforms arent enough. We must bring fundamental change to the culture of Wall Street, beginning with real accountability. To this day, the Justice Department and financial regulators have done virtually nothing to bring criminal charges or hold leadership accountable. Legal deterrents are critical for improving the culture of Wall Street and showing that fraudulent behavior will be punished.
We can solve this problem in a few ways. The first is to replace the leadership at banks that are repeat offenders. CEOs should not remain in charge of institutions that they have failed to manage properly.
Second, we must appoint people to positions attorney general and SEC chair for starters who will prosecute those who commit or permit crimes. Thus far, settlements have been nothing more than CEOs using shareholder money to buy their way out of jail.
Third, we must end the days of neither admit nor deny, and force law-breaking banks to publicly admit it. We have allowed big banks to avoid admitting guilt due to claims that it will cause them too much harm its time to end that game and let banks face the legal consequences and harm to their reputation.
Fourth, we must make banks bear the full weight of financial penalties. As unbelievable as it sounds, the worst actors on Wall Street have written off large portions of these penalties as if they were donations to charity.' >>>
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/caucus/2015/03/20/prevent-another-crash-reform-wall-street/25057735/
Madmiddle
(459 posts)If he can't even do that, how is he going to control the American armed services. There's no sense of security with this guy. Typical straw man if there ever was one...
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Mayors do. Counties supervise the sheriffs.
At least that is how it is in California.
The governor is the authority of last resort and does not interfere in city policing that much.
The police force of the state is something like California's highway patrol.
Check the Maryland state law. The misdeeds of the Baltimore police are not the fault of the governor of the state. The legislature could pass laws requiring certain policies at the local level, but the governor cannot do that alone.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Martin O'Malley will make a good candidate.
We shall see who wins the primary.
At this point, I think O'Malley will be vice president. But we never know what will happen.
I like his compassion, the breadth of his vision and his relatively quiet manner.
Good candidate.