O’Malley: Hillary Clinton Flip Flopped on ‘Every Defining Issue in This Race’

On the heels of his well-received speech at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Des Moines over the weekend, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley came out swinging against Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton on Monday morning.

“Hillary Clinton has changed her position on virtually every defining issue in this race — except for one, and that’s to protect the big banks on Wall Street and go about with business as usual,” O’Malley said on Morning Joe. “I don’t think that’s what the people of our country are looking for.”

The former Maryland governor and Baltimore mayor referenced the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal that he and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have opposed from the start. O’Malley slammed Clinton for changing her position when she came out against it earlier this month. Many Democrats said it was a flip-flop on the part of Clinton, who helped craft the agreement when she served as secretary of state.

“A weathervane shifts its positions in the wind,” O’Malley continued. “Effective leaders do not. I am clear about my principles I know where I stand.”

O’Malley, who has been lagging in the polls while the race is dominated by Clinton and Sanders, has been running a campaign based on “actions, not words.” Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart praised O’Malley for running on his record.

“Of all the people on that stage in Las Vegas and in that next debate coming up, you’re the only one who’s actually done things,” Capehart said. “You rattled off some of these but, marriage equality you put some skin in the game, gun control, you passed and signed legislation, you raised the minimum wage. In all these issues where the Democratic Party is, where the base is, You haven’t just talked about it, you’ve done it.”

Asked why he is still a distant third behind Clinton and Sanders, O’Malley pinned the blame on the Democratic National Committee’s “undemocratic” efforts to “circle the wagons around the frontrunner” by limiting the number of sanctioned televised debates to six.

[Image via screengrab]

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