Andrew Cuomos sudden announcement that he would resign as governor marks what will likely be the end of New York's most mysterious political dynasty.Andrew Cuomo was expected to repeat his father's record of three consecutive terms as New York governor, and he was considered a strong favorite to win a fourth term. The Cuomos failed to reach the top of American politics despite their political talent and moxie and all the praise they received from Democrats and other Americans. Nobody knows why.Both had a lot of talentMario was good at management and idealistic rhetoric, Andrew was great at the exercise of political power. Donald Trump was a man who understood power and feared the latter. In spring 2020, he became obsessed with the idea that Obama and his associates would soon organize a coup to replace Joe Biden as Democratic presidential nominee. Andrew Cuomo is the New York governor. Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, in their new book I Alone Can Fix it, say that Trump became fixated on the idea.He'd be tough. He is so tough. He'd beat me, but he'd be tough. Trump is obsessed.Donald's obsession is nothing more than Richard Nixon's deep fear of the Kennedys. The Cuomos can be seen as an analogy to Kennedys. They were a clan they could count on for 15 years as in-laws. The Kennedys reached the pinnacle in many ways. The Cuomos, however, never made it to the top, and that was unlike the Kennedys. They never even considered it.Mario Cuomo was a Queens political philosopher who had the face of a medieval saint. He was unintentionally elected New York governor in 1982, just before the Reagan era's nadir. He was a Lincolnesque figure who could inspire hope and explain the logic behind any issue. After his powerful speech at the 1984 Democratic Winter Convention, I recall a columnist comparing him with Savonarola. His supporters revered him while his enemies feared him. One Republican Wall Street executive that I knew at the time suggested that Cuomo-vs. George H.W. The 1988 Bush race would have been like a Great Dane savoring a poodle.Continue the storyMario didn't declare for the race, even though Michael Dukakis was the Democratic Party's most charismatic candidate. He did not enter the 1992 race. However, there was a legend that a plane fueled and waiting on the Albany tarmac to whisk him away for the New Hampshire primary. Every excuse and every last-minute budget deal had to be made in Albany, New York State Capitol. Everything is done at the very last moment, and it lasts forever.Andrew Cuomo never made it that far, despite his high ratings as governor, and the desire of many Democrats across the country to see him run for president in 2016 or 2020. Never did the proverbial "trial balloons" about running for president.Mario's inexplicable refusal to run led to all kinds of bigoted, scurrilous rumors about his family or personal connections to the mob. This has never been proven.Could there have been a greater resistance holding back the Cuomos? Perhaps, even though they have been proud of their heritage, Marios's story about his father, an immigrant, saving a large blue spruce on their property was a highlight of his speeches. This was because there was still an ethnic reluctance, a feeling these first- and second generation Italian-Americans didn't belong.Oder could it be the Cuomos were the first New York provinces?The Cuomos, who have always been the leaders of one of the most sophisticated and cosmopolitan countries in the world, seemed uneasy outside their Albany comfort zones. Mario Cuomo was an avid fan and friend of William Kennedy, Albany's brilliant historian and chronicler in fiction. Politically, the Albany of three men in one room, a place that was remarkably retro and where most of the state government was window dressing for decades, was always the Albany with which Cuomos, father, and son, felt most at home.That meant that there was a tidy, centristsome would call, corruptconsensus between the parties. The Cuomos had a safe haven where they could harass, bully and harangue their subordinates in many different ways. Andrew Cuomos' grip on power began to slip when liberal Democrats protested Trump's election stormed the state legislature.There have been many political dynasties in New York, dating back to the beginning of the Republic and even earlier. The Livingstons, the o.g. The Livingstons, the o.g. These families were determined to grab the big prize down in Washington almost every time, and they often did.The Cuomos, Queens of Hollis, were not so fortunate. They found their blue heaven in an old river town, on the Hudson, and not the Potomac. The family was extinguished when the modern world snuck in to that sanctuary.
