Because I admired his father, I wanted to like Andrew Cuomo. But something about him always rubbed me the wrong way, and I was never very well aligned with his version of Democratic politics so I wasn’t very pleased with his policy choices. There were additional problems that I did my best to shrug off. He was a notorious son of a bitch who was skilled at savaging his party rivals and his many critics. I didn’t care for this side of him, but I had a grudging respect for his take-no-shit approach. And I couldn’t deny that he was popular. He was extremely popular. At a time when Democrats couldn’t win anything in places like Upstate New York, Cuomo was elected in 2010 with 63 percent of the vote. In 2018, he was reelected for a second time with 60 percent of the vote. He was clearly doing something right.
His actual record on the COVID-19 pandemic is spotty at best, but it gave him an opportunity to demonstrate his best qualities. His press conferences were both informative and reassuring, and a very nice contrast with the lack of leadership or seriousness in Trump’s White House. Unfortunately, with Cuomo it’s a package deal, and to get the good you have to take a giant heaping of the bad.
His boorish behavior with women seems to have crossed over into potentially criminal territory and it has cost him support from almost every quarter of the Democratic Party. He could be impeached and removed from office if he refuses to resign, and there’s not much indication that he’ll ever go willingly.
It’s a big story because Cuomo is a big figure running a big state, but it’s not like he had much of a future anyway. The party moved so far left during his time in Albany that he no longer had any chance of winning the Democratic presidential nomination. Recognizing this, he didn’t even make an effort in 2020 despite the fact that his resume was practically screaming that he should be on the short list.
I suppose he might have won a fourth term as governor in 2022. At the height of his pandemic popularity, it looked like he’d be a lock. It’s possible he’ll still try, and I wouldn’t completely dismiss his chances because he has been one of the most popular politicians New York has produced in a very long time. It just seems like getting over the first hurdle, winning the party’s gubernatorial nomination, will be impossible now. If he can’t do that, it won’t matter that he might have won the general election.
And, of course, he has legal problems and might very well be ousted in an impeachment trial.
It’s a shame that it turned out this way. Cuomo had a secret sauce that the party lacks. He could have been a model, at least in some respects, that showed the way back to competitiveness in areas where the Democrats no longer have a pulse. But he was too much of a creep and a jerk to fill that role.
Still, there are elements of his career and his political operation that should be studied not just for their shortcomings but for their political effectiveness. In the abstract, this looks like another example of the left devouring the person with the best crossover appeal.
That’s not what this is because Cuomo had fatal flaws and earned his pariah status, but it’s still part of the story.
The part I actually feel good about is that Cuomo is now getting a taste of his own medicine. He’s been a gigantic bully, and he’s treated a lot of people with disrespect. Those people are now in position to orchestrate the end of his career, and maybe even his freedom.
Hmm, that’s an interesting thought that Cuomo could be a model for Democrats in, for instance, the rural Midwest. What aspects of his approach might carry over? What should one study concerning Cuomo?
Cuomo’s done a good job keeping centrist Dems in the party and working with centrist Republicans. Progressives don’t like that (and eventually organized well enough to force changes in the state legislature to create a center-left majority), but it’s a useful skill for a politician.
Biden’s attempting something similar nationally. If he can pull it off (i.e., 1) win passage of a bipartisan infrastructure bill; 2) win passage of a Democratic infrastructure/reconciliation bill; 3) win passage of a Democratic voting rights bill; 4) preside over a strong enough economy to keep Democratic majorities in the House and Senate in 2022, it may help create the conditions for similar victories in several swing states.
I don’t see the Cuomo way as offering anything of value for the Democratic party. I’ve never liked the guy but that aside, triangulation isn’t what we need. We need politicians who know how to message to social conservatives. Obama ran a great campaign and won a bunch of them over. The ones not too racist to pull the lever for a black man and family in the White House.
As far as I’m concerned, Cuomo is the kind of scum we need less of; not more. If centrists liked him, it was only because he was so happy to screw those on the left. We need politicians who know how to claim and leverage issues like patriotism. Why are we not screaming from every parapet that vaccination is one’s patriotic duty? Why are we not calling out Republicans for the traitors they are on scores of issues, not least of which is undermining our democracy? Democrats make reasoned arguments that only Democrats can hear. We need politicians who say provocative things that fit on bumper stickers and are prepared to go to the map with longer arguments to back up those quips.
Careful what you wish for. We lost Al and are about to lose two governors. Funny how this removal process only works against dems.
After listening to the CNN interview with Rita Glavin, Cuomo’s attorney, this afternoon it appears to me that, excluding possibly two of the eleven who claim sexual harassment, merely feeling uncomfortable is enough to impeach the bastard and how dare you challenge that. We all need to recalibrate how we view these things.
Not seeing it. The guy is clearly guilty of intimidation. His staff too. If he were innocent, there wouldn’t have been threats against those who came forward and those are recorded.
perhaps but is intimidation enough to impeach him? Shit lots,of politicians are intimidating, I am not sure about threats since CNN was pretty particular in the questioning. I suppose though one could always say that. It’s a little like being uncomfortable which they all said.
It is going to be very hard for Cuomo to beat this thing I think but that, in my view, is what is dangerous about this. Funny how Trump never got accused of precisely the same thing and more, like pussy grabbing, with the same consequence.And that would clearly be a violation.
For his first two terms Cuomo had the Republicans controlling the state Senate because of centrist Dems and real DINO’s caucusing with the R’s. So he could do or say whatever he wanted without consequences. That changed in 2019 when he had to follow through on being a progressive.
This isn’t the progressives taking revenge. It’s what being progressive in Albany looks like at the moment in a party that values women’s rights. The pandemic put a brake on holding Cuomo accountable for being a jerk.