Podcast (attitude): Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Part One: the Interview-a Presidential Candidate of the Democratic Persuasion
Interview with Democratic Candidate Martin O’Malley (former city councilor and Mayor of Baltimore and two term Governor of Maryland)
Back in 2013 the Washington Monthly in an article entitled Should Martin O’Malley be president? and they wrote this:
The truth is, what makes O’Malley stand out is not his experience, his gravitas, nor his familiarity to voters (Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden crush him in those regards). Nor is it exactly his policies or speeches (New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, both rumored presidential aspirants, have cultivated similar CVs). Nor is it that he plays in a band. Nor is it even the Atlantic’s breathless claim last year that he has “the best abs” in politics. Instead, what makes O’Malley unique as a politician is precisely the skill that was on display in that windowless conference room in downtown Annapolis: he is arguably the best manager working in government today.
That may not seem like a very flashy title—at first blush, “Best Manager” sounds more like a booby prize than a claim a politician might ride to the White House. But in an era where the very idea of government is under assault, a politician’s capacity to deliver on his or her promises, to actually make the bureaucracy work, is an underappreciated skill. Of course, it was a conservative president who most recently demonstrated his woeful lack of such expertise but it is the liberal and progressive bloc that stakes its identity on a belief in government, and there fore has a higher stake in getting government management right. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/may_june_2013/features/should_martin_omalley_be_presi044513.php?page=all
ahhhh but today the Washington Monthly is writing: O’Malley’s bad timing http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2015_06/omalleys_bad_timing055835.php#disqus_thread
Part Two: Who is Governor LePage of Maine and what the H is going on????…some recent headlines should set the stage
The Idiot Thug Running Maine
Lot of bluster in Augusta, but few meaningful policy changes
The Universal Notebook: Impeach the governor
The Right to be Ugly
Barney Frank: LePage team’s words and actions show disregard for Constitution
Christie Endorsed by Maine’s LePage, Who Faces Impeachment
Lawmakers vote unanimously to support investigation of LePage
Our guest:
John Christie is the co-founder of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, a non-profit investigative news service based in the state’s capitol, Augusta. He founded it in 2009 with his wife, Naomi Schalit, and has served as its publisher and senior reporter and recently transitioned to the role of editor-in-chief.
