Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy has earned the right to talk some trash.
…Malloy enacted one of the most ambitiously liberal agendas of any governor in the nation, from higher taxes on the wealthy to a higher minimum wage, guaranteed paid sick leave for workers, protections for gays and immigrants, strict new gun-control laws, looser marijuana-possession laws, allowing the unionization of daycare workers, and outlawing the death penalty…
…
“Tom Foley wanted it put out that there we raised taxes. And he talked about it month after month after month after month. But once people started to pay attention, I pointed out what we did with the money, which was lower the crime rate, increase graduation rates, invest in infrastructure, create a Housing Department, create an Energy Department, create a Department of Aging. We did all of these things. It was the right policy, and ultimately people came around.”
Democrats elsewhere, he says, were scared of making contrasts, of owning up to their record and saying, “This is why we did what we did.”
He also calls out Democrats who ran from the president:
“I was never going to run away from the president,” Malloy said. “It was not even in consideration. I support the president. I think the president has been right. I mean, look at the numbers, look at the job growth, sustained job growth—the greatest in American history. The. Greatest. In. American. History. Why didn’t people run on that?”
I wonder if he has any political future beyond the completion of his second term in office?
I suspect that they changed the name, but I still have nightmares about the old Democratic Leadership Council. When Bill Clinton ascended to the Presidency was the official start of bipartisan fascism.
Let’s hope so. And more of these, please.
I like my governor, but he has the charisma of porridge.
True of most Democrats.
he can mitigate impact of that by joking about it in media appearances- in fact it’s an advantage (he’s not Gov Goodhair or doing lap band surgery to get elected)
I agree. On the other hand, charisma is highly, highly over-rated. I’d argue for quiet competence any day of the week over charismatic chaos. If we keep insisting on seeking an individual who qualifies as the second coming of the messiah, we are constantly going to be badly disappointed.
Unlike many of the Democratic officeholders that were up for re-election in 2014, Malloy had a record to run on. A record that in sound bytes that was just barely positive enough to win a second term. A record when more fully disclosed was good to excellent. Still, he just barely won.
Malloy was one of the few higher profile 2014 Democratic candidates that didn’t bring in the Clintons to stump for him. Smart choice. And while unlike other candidates he didn’t run away from Obama, he wasn’t touting him in his campaign either. He successfully ran a campaign on local issues. Another smart choice because the GOP strategy was to nationalize the 2014 elections and gin up the rightwing Obama loathing and indifference among those that are authentically and justifiably angry with the neoliberalcon policies of Obama and many Congressional Democratic.
CT is a tough place for Democratic governors to win —Rowland was thrice elected and his successor, Rell was no less unacceptable — that is probably the major reason why he barely won. The US is a tough place for “better” Democrats to win.
CT has had pretty anemic job growth, though I don’t think the job market cratered like it did elsewhere, so there was less room to grow.
I thought Malloy did a really good job making tough fiscal decisions (which included pissing off public service unions, let’s not confuse him with Bernie Sanders). He did some things the state really needed doing.
He is – in effect – a grown-up. Which makes him an anomaly. But as I said, he’s got zero charisma on camera, almost negative when you hear his speaking voice.
Unfortunate that the superficial is so important — but naive not to recognize that it does.
I haven’t seen Malloy on video or heard him speak — but still cameras don’t hate him and he does look like a grown-up. Maybe speech/acting coaches could improve his presentation style. Of course such coaching does have limitations — Hillary Clinton is still a poor speaker but her lack of charisma has been made less obvious.
Okay — out of curiosity just watched his victory speech and a spontaneous response to Jindal. My take is that he’s not as bland as O’Malley. And expressed some dynamism in responding to Jindal. His hand gestures in that clip were also more fluid and consonant with what he was saying. A significant negative is his face/ear touching with his fingers/hands habit. He could do with better glasses and slightly longer and styled hair.
Malloy had severe dyslexia growing up, which has basically forced him to memorize everything he says – including his speeches – ahead of time. It probably is a good explanation of why he does not speak well extemporaneously (and why he does not come off better in public).
Just an FYI – that’s not something that can be easily ‘coached’.
Thank you for the information. Forget all my comments about presentation coaching.
Although based on my observations, he’s more fluid and personable when speaking extemporaneously than from a memorized speech. Would expect that to be the case because a memorized speech uses up a larger chunk of conscious thought that is then not available for spontaneity.
If my reactions are indications (and Hillary and I are “of an age”) this dude just got an invite to the VP sweepstakes … the one Jay Nixon lost last month. Loyalty is worth a lot to the Clintonistas. It means a lot to me, also.