We can't 'somehow just cut our way to a better future,' O'Malley plans to say Saturday. O'Malley steps into the spotlight

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is poised to deliver his first major address as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, a speech he’ll use to unveil his vision for Democratic leadership in the states.

Speaking to the Virginia Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on Saturday, O’Malley will call on governors to balance spending restraint with investments in education and infrastructure.


And he’ll draw a sharp contrast between that approach, and what he says is Republican governors’ single-minded focus on slashing government services.

“The other side would have you believe we can somehow eat cake and lose weight. That we can somehow just cut our way to a better future — no need to invest in education or rebuild our infrastructure,” O’Malley will say, according to prepared remarks shared with POLITICO. “We all say we must cut … But you and I know that to make this new economy ours, we must be strategic in how we cut.”

“Creating jobs and expanding opportunity is not only about the spending we cut. It’s about the progress we protect,” he will say. “It’s not only about today’s budget math. It is about giving our children the opportunities they will need to win the future.”

That “cake” line is nothing new — it’s a staple of O’Malley’s campaign-trail rhetoric. But his speech this weekend represents a fresh foray onto the national stage for the Marylander, marking the beginning of his rollout as a messenger for his party.

Democrats and Republicans alike have viewed O’Malley for years as a politician with national potential. In his first appearance before a state party outside of Maryland this year, the 48-year-old former Baltimore mayor has an opportunity to prove them right.

The address also comes at an important juncture for Democratic governors, who have struggled to gain recognition for their work while their party’s leadership is centered in Washington.

As Republican state executives take an increasingly activist role — waging battles on health care, education reform and the rights of public employee unions — their Democratic counterparts have picked few high-profile fights of their own.

O’Malley will change that in Richmond, with a stinging attack on Republican governors, who he’ll accuse of taking a shortsighted, all-about-austerity approach to managing their states.

“Friends, that type of tea party is more Alice in Wonderland than Sam Adams,” he’ll say. “We cannot kid ourselves into thinking that by failing to help a mom or dad who is out of work, that we’re somehow saving resources.”

O’Malley will take a barely veiled shot at Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a recently inaugurated Republican who moved this week to block federal funding for a major rail project. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, another Republican, also has opposed rail construction in his state.

“We’re not somehow being clever by failing to invest in high-speed rail, while they use our money to build it in China,” O’Malley plans to say. “We’re not doing ourselves any favors by neglecting public education. We’re better than that.”

Saturday’s speech will not be the first time O’Malley has leveled criticism at the GOP’s state-level leaders in recent days.

Earlier this week, the Maryland governor released a biting statement after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s speech to the American Enterprise Institute, blasting the first-term Republican for “making massive cuts to schools, hiking property taxes … and failing to pay his state’s pension bill.”

“The issue of budget management deserves a serious discussion, not merely a set of slick ‘tough guy’ sound bites. As the nation’s governors are set to convene in Washington next week, it’s an issue we look forward to debating,” O’Malley said, alluding to the upcoming meeting of the National Governors Association.