As each increasingly tragic and dangerous day passes it becomes more likely that Andrew Cuomo will be drafted to become the Democratic Party’s candidate come November. That is in part due to Cuomo’s ongoing stellar performance as New York’s and America’s de facto leader in response to Covid-19. In equal measure, Cuomo’s ascendancy results from the deficiencies exhibited by Trump and the pre-plague presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Joe Biden
Biden’s failings are in the nature of things. We commented in HL 97 that his March 12 Covid-19 leadership speech was far superior to the President’s late, bumbling, wheezing and grudging admission that there is a problem. But Biden is a melting ice cube. Those of us who have closely watched as time ravaged the once sharp or even brilliant minds of loved ones and colleagues, recognize what is happening to the good soldier Joe.
Donald Trump
With Trump there’s never a last straw. Never a lowest point. He’s the spoiler to Kelvin’s (minus 273.15 degrees Celsius) absolute zero. He’s the quantum mechanical deviation from Einstein’s elegant general relativity. Trump’s only temporary new low was reached with his “We’re not a shipping clerk” expectoration at the states and their governors in response to their urgent requests for tests, ventilators, masks and other things needed to protect and treat their residents. Plus Trump’s failure to use the Defense Production Act to obtain things that are needed to combat the virus.
Jay Inslee
Andrew really emerged on March 9 when he calmly reassured New Yorkers that the state’s prisons were producing better hand sanitizer than the price-gouged commercial sanitizers that are being horded. Every day since, Cuomo has increased his calm but forceful presence and response to the dangerous shortage of medical material and to logistical challenges. He has become the leading governor among a group that has performed well in response to and anticipation of Trump’s failures. A President who both tells them to take care of this job themselves and lashes out when they do that. As he did when calling Washington’s Governor Jay Inslee a “snake” (soon after Pence had praised the governor’s response to the cluster of infections and deaths in the Seattle area). And as he did when charging Cuomo with “political weaponization” of his response to the crisis.
The clearest sign that Trump and his handlers see Cuomo as an emerging threat to the president and his chances for reelection came in the news conference they held on March 22. Trump repeatedly lauded Cuomo and New York for its crisis management and partnership with the federal government. Trump even read a list of items being provided to New York State and warbled the exact number of each item provided. Andrew took note, as will the 4750 delegates to the Democratic convention, or at least the sentient among them will.
Thank you commenters and if you are interested in reading more about the issue The National Review had an excellent article by John Fund yesterday that links and quotes this post. Lloyd
Is Governor Cuomo paying those prisoners a $15 an hour living wage.
I am enthusiastic Cuomo fan and support him for president,
I like Sanders and would vote for him if he was the nominee (I never put anger or spite over what my conscience says)
People are people. Don’t be so driven by bias that anyone who disagrees becomes wrong, ill informed or worse…”establishment “. People are voting for whom they want to vote for. And last time I checked we all still cherish our democratic values.
I would support Cuomo as long as he get on the primaries and wins a plurality fair and square. I would jot support party picking Cuomo at the last minute without people actually voting for him.
Don’t get me wrong I will vote for Joe if he ends up being the nominee(which is most likely) because I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough of the clown sitting in the white house.
Remember you are not just voting for president, you are voting for supreme court, federal judges, basic access to healthcare for the needy, LGBTQ rights, children in cages, climate change and much much more. What are you willing to compromise on. Who are you willing to throw under the bus or into literal cages.
“So basically, we’ll just bypass the whole “voting” thing by the Democratic voting electorate and just go for the candidate the “Party Insiders…”
This is misrepresenting what’s happened in the primaries so far. The candidate of the “party insiders” was always Biden. And he was my candidate too, because nominating a radical nutjob like Sanders would guarantee the re-election of Donald Trump.
But Biden certainly had his flaws. The Republicans have made much of questionable accusations of molestations of women and the false accusations of improper behavior in the affairs of his son. But the real problem with Biden is that he is not as sharp as he used to be. He’s certainly better than Trump, but Cuomo is better than Biden — far better for the changed future we will be facing over the next several years.
And the primary process that’s been used since 1972 has been a very flawed way to select candidates. It tends to draw out the most extreme voters in both parties and thus produces the most extreme candidates rather than candidates who can attract a broad segment of voters. I would be happy to go back to the “smoke filled room” method of previous generations (with smoke-free alterations) in which party insiders picked the nominee. So if this convention uses that method to pick a more suitable candidate I will be very pleased.
This is EXACTLY what Cenk Uygur predicted on the Young Turks — he predicted the “Establishment” would try and go in this direction and “anoint” Cuomo. (I’m sure you would be happy to give him credit for his prescient prediction).
So basically, we’ll just bypass the whole “voting” thing by the Democratic voting electorate and just go for the candidate the “Party Insiders” anoint because — aside from his pro-Corporate and Neoliberal policies on pretty much everything and that his feathers were ruffled by Progressive Cynthia Nixon — we should ignore the votes in the primary and go to who looks “strong” when the cameras are rolling during a worldwide pandemic (even though Sanders has been doing non-stop informative videos and offering real answers and advice from a wide range of experts in the field and has been fighting for everything that is now being asked for by the American people for decades upon decades, consistently)… simply because, like we warned you, Joe Biden looks like he’s one step away from a retirement community in Florida?
Excellent column, While I think Biden has the nomination locked up at this point, if the party needed to turn to someone else, I think it would be Cuomo, who has demonstrated the grace, composure and resolve of a real leader. The contrast with Trump is amazing. Between Trump’s refusing to order private companies to produce life-saving equipment and his sniggering at Romney’s possible illness, Trump is the very opposite of a crisis leader. I now fear that Trump is going to prematurely pull the plug on the stay-at-home regime in a futile attempt to revive the economy before the election. The result would be overwhelming hospitals, additional deaths and even more panic–which will only exacerbate the inevitable recession.
I’d been waiting for the murmurs but much prefer this shout-out BWS
Good stuff!
Hopefully the Party can avoid snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Mr. Vacarr, I failed to note that some of Trump’s attacks on Andrew involved anti-Italian slurs, as in his reference to Chris Cuomo as “Fredo”. A measure of our decline is that his base and his party tolerate it or chalk it up to “that’s just the way he is” When Clinton did something similar , albeit privately to his girlfriend Gennifer with a G Flowers , telling her that Mario Cuomo acted like a “Mafioso” it almost scuttled his candidacy. I’ve always believed that the reason Andrew was appointed HUD Secretary by Bill was a half-assed apology to Mario.