Martin O'Malley: DNC 2012

2012 Democratic National Convention 

Read his speech here.

In 2012, President Barack Obama was up for re-election and was facing Mitt Romney in a tight race. The Democratic National Convention was being held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Although Martin O'Malley wasn't the keynote speaker, this speech was important for his potential 2016 presidential campaign. He was there to support President Obama and help get him re-elected, but he was also there to show fellow Democrats that he was a serious contender for the 2016 presidential bid. 

Political Language 

Speakers at the DNC are usually politicians that are already well known and have great political accomplishments, or they're up and coming politicians. In 2004, Obama was the keynote speaker at the DNC and delivered the speech that put him on the map. People were blown away. That's what the DNC can do for a Democratic politicians' career. For these reasons, Martin O'Malley's DNC speech in 2012 was greatly important. In this speech he could show support for fellow Democrats while also promoting himself as a potential candidate in 2016. 

Generating Political Support

Political language can be used to help politicians in many ways. One way that the political language in this speech helped Martin O'Malley was by generating political support. Before a candidate can become the Democratic nominee for president, they have to go through the primary election and run against fellow Democrats. That makes the DNC the perfect time and place to gain political support from the Party. Martin O'Malley did just that in 2012. Not only does he discuss the many accomplishments of Obama and give the audience many reasons to re-elect him, but he also talks about the many accomplishments he has had while governor of Maryland. He gives examples of how he has moved Maryland forward and hasn't looked back. He speaks of the progress that Maryland has seen in its schools and economy. He hits on issues of safety, job creation, medicare, poverty, education, ect. O'Malley's main theme was progress and moving forward, which is a very large theme within the Democratic Party. 

Political Symbols

When I think of Democrats there are many words that come to mind, but one of the most prominent is "progress." In almost any speech given by a Democrat, I would bet you would hear the word "progress" multiple times. "Progress" is a significant symbol within the Democratic Party. When it is used by a Democrat for a Democratic audience, "progress" has a common meaning. It was smart for Martin O'Malley to make progress and moving forward his over arching theme for the speech. It showed that he shares common values with the Party and it helps promote him as a potential 2016 candidate. 

Another way we see O'Malley use political symbols is when he tells the story of the 400 Marylanders who "saved the American army" in the Revolutionary War. The Revolutionary War is a symbol of America itself. Using this war in his speech, O'Malley was able to remind people of how great this country is. The Revolutionary War is a symbol a freedom and triumph, it's a story of overcoming the impossible and defending democracy. These were all important feelings that O'Malley was trying to invoke in his audience. To remind his audience of why this is a great country, and why we need leaders who plan to keep our country strong. 

O'Malley's story also has another important meaning - it was Maryland who saved America back then, and in 2016 it will be a Marylander who saves America again. Our country is in trillions of dollars of debt and we are facing a partisan stand off that is preventing our government from getting anything done. The fact is, D.C. politics have to change if we are going to restore America to its true glory. Martin O'Malley uses the symbol of the 400 Marylanders in the Revolutionary War as a way to get the message across that he is the leader (from Maryland) that can restore America.  

Functions

Agenda setting is a function of political language that O'Malley uses during this speech. He hits the issues of education, job creation, and safety rather hard. Now that he is a politician that people are speculating will make a serious run for president in 2016, his website reveals that his main platforms are indeed education, job creation, and safety. He used this speech to set up his agenda for his campaign in 2016. 

Interpretation and Linkage are another function of political language that we see Martin O'Malley use in this speech. He was able to define education, job creation, and safety the way that he wanted to. This manipulates how the audience perceives those issues. People vote for candidates that have the same perceptions of major issues as they do. This is why it was important for O'Malley to define education, job creation, and safety, and get the audience to perceive those issues as he does.  

Reflecting on the past and predicting the future is an important function in O'Malley's speech. He talks about the war that gave America its freedom and is the very foundation of this country. It allowed the audience to remember what it truly means to be an American. Putting that together with a prediction of the future was very powerful. His predictions were that with a Republican leader our country would move backwards instead of forwards, and that would be detrimental to our country. Since his audience was just Democrats, this was an effective use of this function. No Democrat wants to see this county go backwards. O'Malley was playing off of that when talking about the future. In contrast to his predictions of the future with Republican leaders, he discussed how Democratic leaders will keep moving America forward, and provide our country with progress.  

Action stimulation is the last function of political language, but it is perhaps one of the most important. The whole reason Martin O'Malley was giving this speech at the DNC was to try and help get President Obama re-elected. This goal was accomplished. However, action stimulation doesn't just refer to a physical action like voting, but it also refers to the stimulation of public discussion. Not only did this speech introduce O'Malley as a serious politician in America, it also got the public talking about him as a serious candidate in 2016. 

Conclusion 

Political language is important to every politician, whether they are running for office or not. It is how politicians get their messages to public and how the public perceives those messages. Martin O'Malley's 2012 DNC speech was his introduction to the country. Marylanders know him as one of the most accomplished governors, and this speech was his chance for Democrats nationwide to get to know him as a competent leader as well. Since other potential candidates have big political names like Clinton and Bush, it's important that he introduced himself to Democrats as someone who may not have a well known name but is a leader they can count on. He did that by using his political language to create common meanings and talk about shared values to fellow Democrats. Martin O'Malley's 2012 DNC speech was the beginning point of his bid for the 2016 presidential campaign. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/dnc-2012-maryland-governor-martin-omalleys-speech-full-text/2012/09/04/71a527a8-f6f8-11e1-8253-3f495ae70650_story.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWynt87PaJ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRhCP50h8bM

http://martinomalley.com/

Martin O'Malley: Online Presence

Martin O'Malley: Online Presence 

Martin O'Malley has a well rounded online presence. He has a website where people can watch speeches that he's made, find upcoming events that he will be attending, read about his main platform, and contribute to him. His website is set up like a candidates' website. Although he hasn't officially announced his run for president in 2016, his website promotes him as though he already has. 

View Martin O'Malley's website here.

Martin O'Malley also has a well rounded social media presence as well. 

Martin O'Malley's Twitter account is one of the places he probably reaches the most people. He has over 58,000 followers that view his tweets, and probably thousands more that see his tweets through retweets. In 2008 this nation watched as President Obama dominated social media and won the presidential election. Ever since then we have seen more and more politics on Twitter and we've been able to see how powerful of a campaign tool it is. 

Visit Martin O'Malley's twitter page.

O'Malley also has a strong presence on Facebook. With over 60,000 likes he is able to reach a widespread amount of people. Like Twitter, he uses Facebook as a way to be more personal with his followers, but he also talks about political issues. For example, he made post about how he recently broke his elbow at the gym but his recovery was going well. A couple of days later he made a post addressing issues surrounding ISIS. Both Facebook and Twitter are a great place for candidates to talk to voters about their platforms, but also make personal connections. 

"Like" Martin O'Malleys Facebook page here

O'Malley also has an Instagram and a Youtube account. These forms of social media are his weakest. He doesn't have a large following on either. However, I have just started to see more and more politicians on Instagram so I think it is a rather new concept. Instagram is a way for people to view O'Malleys more personal side. He does post pictures of him at political events, but it's more pictures of his family and him living his everyday life. His Youtube channel is filled with videos of him talking at political events, as well as promotional videos that talk about all the accomplishments he made as Mayor of Baltimore and Governor of Maryland. 

View his Instagram and Youtube pages here. 

While Martin O'Malley is rather active on social media, he doesn't have as strong of an online presence as some of the other potential 2016 presidential candidates. For example, O'Malley will probably have to face Hillary Clinton in the primary race and she has almost 3 million followers on twitter and has a whole bunch of viral videos. The upside to this is that because O'Malley doesn't have a whole lot of viral videos, there aren't a whole lot of stigmas out there about him. However, he is comparably lacking in online presence to other potential candidates and that could hurt him in the long run. When he makes the official announcement that he is running for president, I think more and more people will begin to follow him on social media sites. However, some of his opponents definitely have a stronger online presence at this moment in time.    

How To Build A Bigger Presence 

Because Martin O'Malley is relatively unknown compared to other potential candidates like Hillary Clinton or Chris Christie, he needs to begin forming a larger online presence now. I think that Twitter is one of the easiest places to gain attention. Following organizations and other politicians that have similar values and platforms will allow for him to grow a larger following. This allows for the people following those organizations to potentially follow O'Malley because it's a shared value and platform. Twitter opens the door to getting more people to visit his website or watch a Youtube video on his channel. Twitter is a popular way to get videos to go viral. He could tweet a promotional video or a video of him speaking, and through retweets it could potentially reach millions of people.

There is a saying that all press is good press, but in the terms of politics I'm not sure I totally agree with that. With the progression of technology, it is easier than ever for people to make satirical parody videos of politicians and have them go viral. While I don't think these videos do any immediate harm, I do think they perpetuate a stigma to the candidate that could hurt them in the long run. More well known politicians like Sarah Palin or Chris Christie have many parody videos depicting them as stupid and incompetent. Because O'Malley isn't as well known, he really doesn't have a lot of those videos. This is a strength. Since he hasn't announced his official bid yet, this is the time for him to post videos that show him as a successful and competent leader. 

This video is from O'Malley's Youtube page. It is a good example of the types of videos he should be promoting on his website, Twitter, and Facebook. These are the videos that he wants people to watch and potentially want to learn more about him as a candidate. 

When he announces his official bid to run for president in 2016, he will gain a larger online presence. More people will find him on Twitter and Facebook to try to learn more about him. It's important that he fills those social media outlets with videos of him giving strong and inspirational speeches, and promotional videos like the one above. If people go searching for him online and see all these positive stories and messages that he has put out there, he can acquire a positive online presence and that could be something that is vitally important in the 2016 presidential race.    

http://martinomalley.com/
https://twitter.com/GovernorOMalley
https://www.facebook.com/MartinOMalley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPqEg3Xh7xg
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb7eu74-_tCNLw9FfavvKnw

Martin O'Malley: Image & Issues

O'Malley's Candidate Image

Martin O'Malley stepped down this year from his position as Governor of Maryland after eight years. His lieutenant governor, Anthony Brown, ran unsuccessfully to succeed him as Governor. During the campaign, Brown's opponent had many TV ads that were negative attacks on both Brown and O'Malley. The Washington Post reported that because O'Malley never countered any of the negative attacks, because he wasn't running for office, his approval rating dropped down in Maryland. However, since the election is over and he is out of office his rating is evenly split at 47%. These numbers don't necessarily reflect how people will view him if he decides to make a run for the presidency in 2016. His image was attacked this fall during the elections, but he also wasn't running any kind of campaign to counter those negative ads at the time. O'Malley is currently going on speaking tours for different organizations and that will help him gain a favorable image within the Democratic Party.

Some people have criticized him for increasing the sales tax in Maryland too much. No one really feels favorably about paying higher taxes, but because of the tax increase O'Malley was able to keep the states' schools funded properly and keep Maryland's AAA Bond Rating during the recession. He will be able to use these facts to justify raising taxes and that will help him keep a favorable image within the party. However, if he wins the Democratic nomination Republicans will probably use his tax increases against him. He will have to show the voters that he was fiscally responsible with those tax dollars and how he used them to help move Maryland in the right direction. School funding and the well being of the economy are issues that are important to most Americans, his success with those issues will help create a positive candidate image in 2016.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths: Martin O'Malley's strengths can be seen in his record as Governor. Maryland's schools were named the best schools in America five years in a row, Maryland kept its AAA bond rating during the recession, the state was number one in the nation in STEM jobs and in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, he cut state spending by $9.7 billion. His strengths will also lie within the middle to lower class Americans. He raised the state's minimum wage to $10.10, he expanded the opportunity for more Marylanders to go to college with the DREAM Act, and he also created thousands of jobs by investing in Maryland's transit projects. His focus on job creation and education show that his values lie within the future of this country and making sure that it's a bright one.

Weaknesses: O'Malleys weaknesses will be that he is not as well known as some of the other potential candidates. There are a lot of big names that are considering running in 2016 and that could hurt O'Malley since his name isn't as well known as Hillary Clinton or Jeb Bush.

Opportunities: O'Malley could very well turn his weakness into a strength. Other candidates might have more well known names, but that also means a lot of Americans have already made up their minds about them. O'Malley has the opportunity to use that against them and create a new fresh image for himself.

Threats: O'Malley's biggest threats are his tax increases being used against him and Republicans linking him with Obama. We saw this a lot in the 2014 elections and it was a successful strategy for the Republicans.

Issues

Martin O'Malley's website highlights three main issues: education, public safety, and job creation. I agree that these are the appropriate issues to focus on. These issues are the main focus for a lot of Americans and they are also some of the most debated issues in politics.

Education: O'Malley believes in investing in the nations' school systems and providing a quality education for all of America's children. He is also fighting for college to become more affordable as it becomes more necessary in today's world. Americans care about the nations future and children, and O'Malley's focus on that during his governorship shows that he does too.

Public Safety: Under his governorship, Baltimore's violent crimes dropped 42%, the biggest drop out the nation's 20 most populous cities. He encourages public safety by promoting gun safety and investing in law enforcement. O'Malley is not an anti-gun Democrat, but he believes we need to focus on promoting gun safety, school safety, and investing in mental health. With the horrific number of shootings in these past few years, gun safety is becoming a bigger political issue for Americans.

Job Creation: This issue has always been, and will remain, a very important issue to Americans. O'Malley created multiple initiatives to speed up private sector job creation and has made it his top priority. Maryland was one of the most successful states in job creation under his governorship and that will show Americans that he will be able to lead the American economy in the right direction.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/martin-omalleys-approval-rating-improved-in-maryland-since-october/2015/02/10/9a6a5c7a-b169-11e4-827f-93f454140e2b_story.html

http://www.ksdp.org/press/former-maryland-governor-martin-omalley-deliver-kansas-democrats-washington-days-keynote-speec

http://martinomalley.com/

Martin O'Malley: Blog #1

Democrat Martin O'Malley served as the Governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015, and prior to that served the people of Baltimore as Mayor from 1999 to 2007. As Governor, O'Malley moved Maryland forward in many important ways and Washington Monthly Magazine called him, "arguably the best manager in government." O'Malley would make a great 2016 presidential candidate because his accomplishments as Governor relate directly to issues that America is facing nationwide.

In 2012 he signed a law legalizing same-sex marriage in Maryland and it was upheld by majority vote of the public.

• Even though this issue will be decided by the Supreme Court sometime this year, it is still an important factor to his candidate image. The general population has grown more favorable towards same-sex marriage, especially those who fall in the middle. This could help him with independent and swing voters. 

Under his Governorship, Maryland had the best public schools in America for 5 years in a row.

• Most everyone on both political sides can agree that the children of America and their education is important. Having the best public schools in America while also cutting state spending shows O'Malley's ability to be effective and efficient in areas that count. American's want a leader who can cut government spending but maintain the quality of this nation. This is evidence that Martin O'Malley can be that leader. 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce named Maryland #1 in innovation and entrepreneurship 3 years in a row and #1 in STEM jobs.

• In a world with increasing technology, America needs to be more innovative than ever to remain a world leader. Being #1 in innovation, entrepreneurship, and STEM jobs shows that under O'Malley's leadership jobs were created and maintained in areas of great importance. This shows the American people that O'Malley is the kind of leader who will move America forward in the right direction.   

He was able to cut state spending by $9.7 billion over 8 years and Maryland maintained a AAA Bond Rating during the recession.

• Only seven states were able to maintain a AAA Bond Rating during the recession, and the fact that O'Malley was able to accomplish that shows he is a fiscally responsible leader. Cutting government spending while being able to maintain the quality of Maryland's economy and schools is appealing to voters on both sides of the political line. Again, this shows that O'Malley is a leader who is both effective and efficient. 

Martin O'Malley is a candidate that can appeal to Democrats, people in the middle, and even those who are lightly conservative. There is so much heat between the two political parties today that those who are Republicans will most likely vote for the conservative candidate, and those who are Democrats will most likely vote for the liberal candidate. The 2016 presidential election will come down to the voters in the middle, and Martin O'Malley has proven that he is the kind of leader that can move America forward while implementing fiscal responsibility.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/07/us-usa-campaign-gaymarriage-idUSBRE8A60MG20121107

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_O%27Malley

http://www.ksdp.org/press/former-maryland-governor-martin-omalley-deliver-kansas-democrats-washington-days-keynote-speec