Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley is seeking to distance himself from his competition in both political parties following his official announcement of his bid for the White House Saturday.
O’Malley spoke to ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview that aired on This Week Sunday, specifically referencing the fact that Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said that either Bush or Clinton would suffice for a commander in chief.
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“What we need new leadership to accomplish is to actually reign in excesses on Wall Street, and when you have somebody that’s the CEO of one of the biggest repeat-offending investment banks in the country telling his employees that he’d be fine with either Bush or Clinton, that should tell all of us something,” O’Malley explained.
While O’Malley admitted that he does not have knowledge of Hillary’s ultimate “approach to Wall Street,” the former Maryland governor suggested that both Jeb Bush and Clinton are somehow “beholden to Wall Street interests.”
That, he said, is precisely why he represents the “new leadership” for which the American public is thirsting.
“I am not beholden to Wall Street interests,” O’Malley declared. “There are not Wall Street CEOs banging down my door and trying to participate or help my campaign.”
“I think the public is looking for new leadership, leadership that doesn’t apologize for having progressive values,” he added.
This certainly isn’t the first instance in which O’Malley has lumped Bush and Clinton together despite their political differences.
During a previous interview on the ABC program earlier this year, O’Malley — while not naming names — drew attention to the fact that Bush and Clinton both come from political dynasty families.
“Let’s be honest here,” explained O’Malley. “The presidency of the United States is not some crown to be passed between two families. It is an awesome and sacred trust to be earned and exercised on behalf of the American people.”
O’Malley officially entered the 2016 presidential race with an announcement in Baltimore Saturday after which he traveled to Iowa.
