The progressive populist technocrat of deep faith as seen from the Matrix

OK, now I'm supposed to say, "Hmm, that's interesting, but... " then you say...

For some reason, the Oracle’s line from The Matrix comes to mind as I sit down to write about hearing Governor O’Malley speak at Politics and Eggs in New Hampshire this morning. Everyone else is writing inside baseball, covering the horse race aspects of the 2016 presidential campaign. I figure, maybe I should write it as a theatre review.

The dress rehearsal of “O’Malley for President” had a wonderful, though a bit clichéd script, right out of the progressive populist playbook. “This great story we have the opportunity to write together...” Talking about how we all grew up believing “if you work hard, you can get ahead…”

He talked about his father seeing signs, “no Irish need apply… He never forgot that and neither have I”. He got the quote from Micah 6:8 in there about acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with our God.

He spoke about trickle down economics driving us into the recession and what makes economies grow, and countries strong, is a growing middle class. Perhaps his best line was about immigration, saying that the symbol of America is not barbed wire fence, it is the Statue of Liberty.

I remember in high school hearing a clarinet recital by my music teacher. It was phenomenal, or so I thought. Yet all the reviews talked about the performance being wooden, sounding like someone practicing their scales.

So, the quote from the Matrix comes to mind. It is the story line that the new kids on the bus have already written for the election season. We need a Democratic primary. We need an anti-Hillary. Hillary is old, flawed and unstoppable. She has the reverse Midas touch. Everything she touches turns to scandal. The press has a palpable sense of exhaustion in dealing with these scandals. We need to get to real issues. And yet it is the press that focuses on the horse race and the scandals.

One of the reporters commented on not seeing O’Malley igniting the grassroots enthusiasm that Obama did. In The Matrix, the Oracle goes on to say:

Sorry, kid. You got the gift, but it looks like you're waiting for something.

This progressive populist technocrat with deep faith.

It is an odd combination. I always think of technocrats as being centrist and faith being a domain of the right. Can O’Malley pull of uniting these?

There were a few believers in the audience, people who had lived in Baltimore when O’Malley was a councilman there, a bright and upcoming New England mayor who has looked to O’Malley as a mentor. Yet most of the crowd was made up of rich old white male power brokers, not exactly the crowd to respond to a progressive populist’s message.

So, the real question is, will O’Malley be able to draw in people who weren’t at the politics and eggs breakfast. He had a strong inclusive message, “The more people included, the better we can all do”. Will we see that in his campaign organization? He spoke of open data and performance management. Will we see performance management techniques applied to the campaign?

He said we have to look to one another. Will he do that in his campaign? And then, there is the role of money in politics. Has Citizen’s United moved our political system so firmly into high dollar donor based campaign structure that we are stuck with political dynasties?

For a dress rehearsal, it was a good performance. O’Malley knew his lines, even if the delivery was a little wooden. The script was solid. Yet there are many performances between now and primary day in New Hampshire. Perhaps it is best to wrap up this review with another quote from the Matrix.

I wanna tell you a little secret, being the one is just like being in love. No one needs to tell you you are in love, you just know it, through and through.