But wait! I have written in several columns that Andrew Cuomo isn’t done with politics yet. I hear from some folks suggesting that I must be imbibing something both addictive and illegal.
My conviction that Cuomo isn’t finished is hardly a personal endorsement of the guy. I’m just using whatever we social scientists have at our disposal to help understand what’s going on. It’s not only the political, it’s also the psychological. The pathology of the man is pretty transparent. He’s competitive, he’s angry, and he can be very, very up for a fight. Indeed, he sees everything as a potential fight. As an identical twin, I understand what competition is all about. Freud has been quoted by me (maybe I made it up) saying that “…there is no joke.” Maybe so, and we know that if Papa Mario had a failing, it was probably his pride in Andrew, who is neither as loquacious nor as bright as his old man.
Andrew will hold on like a Doberman as long as he breathes a single breath. Let’s look at it this way. With all the charges being dropped against him, Andrew is like a quarterback. He looks down the field, sees an opening and starts to run. I mean, why not? What’s to stop him? All the people who piled on Andrew tried to make sure he was politically dead, not to mention possibly imprisoned. They were so effective that he sure looked dead. But despite the various charges against the guy, they didn’t seem to have the necessary oomph for a touchdown.
Just look at Trump. He was a terrible misogynist and abuser and it didn’t seem to hurt him. Andrew tried his best to get out from under the abuser charges. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are a lot of very aggrieved women who think Andrew is way out of line. Yet our society is filled with suggestions from the Playboys and Penthouses that advance the typical male nonsense about how men score.
We marvel at the fact that so many women voted for Donald Trump. They did so because of their own economic or racist or elitist status. Nevertheless, they were there for him. We know now that Cuomo went down the wrong road. It could be that Republicans and Democrats have different standards about what is acceptable and what is sexual harassment. And, of course, standards change. Just look at ex-Senator Al Franken, forced to resign for doing what so many others have done. Kirsten Gillibrand carried a mighty torch that eventually did him in. She may have thought it would bring her popular appeal, but it doesn’t seem to have worked out that way. In fact, right now it looks as if she is politically vulnerable, with everybody but the dog catcher seemingly lined up to run against her.
So if I’m Andrew Cuomo, I am now looking at a political rebirth after a very rough period. I think it is way too early to count the guy out. The crowd that wants him out has a choice to make. Option one is to retreat. Those people who have been insulted by Cuomo can take a wait and see position and leave him alone or, option two, they can redouble their efforts and continue to go after him. With little coming from the federal government about his nursing home actions and with the primary coming up, the anti-Andrew crowd does look to be in a vulnerable position. He tends not to forget insults.
I do notice that there are a lot of “clicks” on anything I write about Cuomo. In the end, as I started: Andrew ain’t done. If you know him, you know that.
