A second life for Martin O’Malley?

Martin O'Malley was on the City Council of Baltimore, MD. Then he was mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2006 and then Governor of Maryland.

This week being associated with Baltimore seems a dubious political asset.

The death of a black youth, the rioting, looting, fires and the revelations of 'rough rides” in police paddy wagons has jolted the nation.

O'Malley is a potential contender against Hillary Clinton for the 2016 race to the White House.

But, it turns out that he was also the architect of a 'zero tolerance” police policy when mayor of Baltimore. That policy, associated with Republican New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani, is now blamed for a sharply deteriorating community and police relations.

To be fair, this no tolerance approach to law enforcement was also pushed by President Bill Clinton. Lots of money for more cops and more law enforcement was pushed out from Washington during that time when crime in Baltimore and the United States was high and everyone wanted more law and order.

I wrote and said on several radio shows that O'Malley would now probably be toast because there is a reassessment of the Giuliani law enforcement model. O'Malley would be blamed for the current crisis in Baltimore. Americans but especially, liberals, Democrats, and blacks would reject O'Malley as a viable contender.

Then several astute observers of the national political scene and former students of mine shared their analysis. They averred that:

' No one likes urban riots regardless of how these are justified.

' No one likes a black man shooting a young undercover police officer in New York as happened just days after the Baltimore fiasco or the deadly shooting by four black suspects of two officers in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

' In most American cities black crime is a real issue and every day African Americans are in the news and on TV accused of committing crimes. In Chicago, Jesse Jackson said in 1996, 'There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery - then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.” He was never accused of racism for saying that.

' Finally, 'white flight” to the suburbs, which we don't talk about much anymore, is largely responsible for turning some neighborhoods in cities into truly neglected and poor minority residences. When the middle class leaves all that remains are the uneducated and the poor. Then crime spirals out of control and business people don't invest in these areas and banks won't lend. If government doesn't take action to reinvent these communities they become festering centers of neglect and violence.

The very disturbing series of incidents between police and blacks resulting in so many deaths clearly needs to be addressed. On the other hand cities face a vicious cycle of crime, harsh law enforcement, followed by outrage, a pull back by police, a rise in crime, and once again a demand by voters that law enforcement 'crack down” (a harsh phrase) on crime. Minorities are often the target of law enforcement partly because statistically they are also often the major source of drug dealing and other crimes.

O'Malley may be able to re-own his law-and-order role as mayor and make a case that high crime rates are an existential barrier to prosperity and a happy future for America's poor minority communities. No peace, no prosperity. He has said as much in his most recent TV appearance on Meet The Press. Remember that non-Hispanic white voters still make up a huge percentage (73.7 percent in 2012) of the American electorate. Ignoring the white vote, at least in the short run, is political suicide. 'Racializing” Americans by pitting black against whites is a very risky proposition. The brouhaha in the past week over Boston University sociology and African-American studies black professor Saida Grundy's snarky and possibly racist tweets about white men is a manifestation of just how tense the racial environment is today.

O'Malley is doing a 'Full Bill Clinton” - putting his head down, pushing forward with no apologies, biting his lower lip, 'feeling the pain” of the law abiding black, Hispanic and poor citizens who live in these violent communities while at the same time condemning the illegal and violent behavior by law enforcement. He's also making a strong case that when he was mayor he invested heavily in the Baltimore community and worked to improve people's lives.

Oh yes, he also said that if he runs for President he would announce in Baltimore.

There may be a second life for O'Malley after all.

' Steffen Schmidt is professor of political science at Iowa State University. Comments: Steffenschmidt2005@gmail.com