So Andrew Cuomo has announced that he will resign as New York’s governor in two weeks. Odds are that he will carry through on that promise.
It’s worth taking a moment to ask why he’s been forced out — and more importantly, what his departure means for New York and for America.
By now, we all know the official story: A barrage of sexual harassment complaints cost Cuomo the trust of New Yorkers. Without that trust, he could not govern effectively.
Believe it? Don’t kid yourself.
We’re talking about a man who presided over the country’s worst pandemic performance, made matters even worse by shipping infected patients into nursing homes, watch death rip through New York’s elderly, then took a victory lap proudly calling his abysmal performance ”New York strong.”
His efforts earned him an Emmy, a book deal and serious consideration for the presidency. Are we really supposed to believe that he couldn’t survive a second-rate sexual harassment scandal?
The truth of the matter is that Cuomo is out because the ascendant leftist power base determined that he had outlived his usefulness. It could conceivably be argued that Cuomo is an old-school dealmaker, more focused on power and prestige, rather than ideology.
When the winds blew toward pragmatism, he could come off as a centrist; when they blew towards radicalism, he was more than happy to govern as a radical.
Cuomo and his old-school type of pols — a grouping that unquestionably includes President Joe Biden — are living on borrowed time. The radical, ideologically driven base of the Democratic Party keeps claiming scalps. New York has played a critical role in its rise.
In 2018, the radical Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stunned longtime incumbent dealmaker Joe Crowley. In 2020, the equally radical Jamaal Bowman displaced one of the few remaining moderate Democrats, ending Eliot Engel’s fifteen-term run. No less a power broker than Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is reportedly terrified of a far-left primary challenge, likely from Ocasio-Cortez.
Rather than noticing that his era had ended, however, Cuomo announced his plans to run for a fourth term in 2022. He was heavily favored to win any primary — and then the general election.
Though a fourth Cuomo term would have been unlikely to derail the radicals’ agenda, it would indeed have slowed their rise to full power.
With Cuomo out of office, his successor — Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul — will have several months to show New Yorkers who she is. Will she be radical enough to win the endorsement of New York’s far left, then enter the general election heavily favored in this very Democratic state? Or will she hew more to the center, lose their endorsement, and be cast aside in just over a year?
Either way, her ascendance seems unlikely to improve life in New York.
Andrew Cuomo is neither a good man nor a good governor, and no one should be sorry to see him go. But harbor no illusions: There is no elevating message in his departure. Perhaps Hochul will be a pleasant surprise. Far more likely, however, is that we are once again seeing the reality that defines today’s left: Out with the bad, in with the worse.
No responses yet