Martin O'Malley as a debator

 Unfortunately, it was somewhat difficult to find a video that really encompassed Martin O'Malley's most recent debate style. However, after searching high and low for a debate video, I decided this one was the most useful.  In this 2012 video, Republican governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Democrat governor Martin O'Malley of Maryland "face off on the economy, health care, and the 2012 election". 

From what I have observed watching various debate videos, O'Malley takes a similar factual/statistical approach most of the time. I think this approach both works to his advantage, and also sets him up to be challenged. The thing about statistics is that there are always statistics working against you. No matter how many statistics you ramble off to support your claim, there are always about five more that support your opposer's claim. 

In the video, the first topic the governors debate over is the less than satisfactory economy and the unimpressive amount of jobs that were created in the second half of the year. O'Malley is essentially asked to defend president Obama on this fact and he takes a very familiar route, by talking about the "facts". O'Malley states, "No one can argue the fact that last year we created more jobs than were created in all 8 years of George w. Bush." I think that is obviously a very important fact that needs to be given to those who oppose Obama and complain about the President not fulfilling his promises. However, it just does not serve as useful as Republican Bobby Jindal follows O'Malley's quote by stating "well lets actually look at the facts, the whole 4/3.5 years Obama has been president we've lost nearly half a million jobs." 

I think O'Malley does a great job of having a fact or statistic ready to back up almost anything he says in a debate, but the thing is, every candidate has a fact or statistic ready to back up theirs too. I think he does a poor job of being as assertive and aggressive as his republican competitor in debates. At one point you hear O'Malley mumble "not true" to something Jindal says, but he never really elaborates on it. However, there's another point in the debate with Jindal continues to talk over the debate mediator just to finish stressing a point. It just seems like the level of assertiveness in the conversation was off at points. 

If I were a campaign advisor, I would encourage O'Malley to work on his emotional appeal. I think for a democratic candidate, he argues a lot like a republican--incredibly factual and in a circle. It's a ton of blaming and dismissing what the other person has to say by stating your own statistic, which I don't find very useful. I think asking his opposer about their views and motive behind certain stances is way more powerful. Simply stating facts removes any personal aspect from the discussion. At the end of the day, we are voting for a human who will have to use complex thinking AND feeling to address issues, not a computer who simply operates off of numbers that lack any real context. I think its 100% important to have proof or have facts, but everyone needs to chill. We get it, you memorized a ton of statistics that work in your favor before this debate--show me you care about me as a voter for more reasons than just that you want to be able to prove your point by making me a statistic. 

Obviously a hot topic is always going to be economy and money. However, social issues have been taking the stage recently. I know money makes the world go round, but its the same argument every time--everyone wants more money. Its just an issue that can't be solved for every American, someone will always lose or be unhappy. So I would say lets make sure to focus on issues that are for the greater good for everyone. Social issues are something that everyone is talking about lately, and young people are able to easily get involved with social issues so discussing them can help young voters choose a candidate better.