O’Malley’s Disastrous ‘Ask Me Anything’ Session on Reddit

Gov. Martin O’Malley participated in an “ask me anything” session on Reddit on Monday. Users of the social news and entertainment site posed a wide range of questions to the ambitious, term-limited Maryland executive, questions he mostly didn’t answer. And when he did answer a question, his responses were politicianly but hardly presidential.

O’Malley said his intention in participating in the AMA was to draw attention to the statewide minimum wage increase he was signing into law that day. (To that end, he broke from the session mid-morning, announcing that he was going to go “sign some bills, including one to raise Maryland’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.”)

That may have been his first problem. By definition, an AMA tends not to stick closely to one topic, particularly when the personality involved is an elected official with years of policy decisions to be challenged on. So despite what O’Malley may have hoped, there weren’t many queries of the “how does it feel to be signing a minimum wage bill, future Mr. President?” variety. Instead, he was met with a fair number of challenging questions regarding the disastrous Maryland healthcare exchange Web site and the veracity of his crime-reduction claims made during his tenure as mayor of Baltimore, for example.

He left so many difficult questions unanswered that users began joking during the break that the governor must have had second thoughts about the AMA.

One user imagined what O’Malley must have been thinking: ”That one guy asked me about gay rights. Got that one answered. Another guy asked me about support of smaller campaign donations. Nailed it. Load up the horses, boys, time to get the f— out of here.’”

Another speculated that he may have “thought he was just going to be discussing weed.”But maybe he was smart to leave unprepared-for questions unanswered. Otherwise he may have delivered more snotty, petty responses like this one, regarding his support of Maryland’s horribly gerrymandered congressional districts: “Yes, I am okay with the map. Yes, I could support non-partisan redistricting if every other state does it.” It’s the kind of statement that makes you want to grab him by the ear and say, “Marty, I don’t care what Every Other State is doing; I’m not Every Other State’s mother! Now go to your room until you’re ready to redraw the map fairly this time.”