Here he comes. To save the day?
Andrew Cuomo, always intrusive and never in doubt, just tucked into Joe Biden and the Democratic Party on America’s self-inflicted border-hopper crisis.
“The migrant issue is creating mayhem across the country and showing the ineffectiveness and schisms in the Democratic Party,” writes ex-Gov. Bigfoot for The Hill — a policy-wonk-centric, Washington-based venue.
That is to say, a site watched closely by political pros from sea to shining sea: Cuomo sent a message not likely to be missed — on two levels.
“President Biden’s administration has not been able to solve the migrant problem,” he continued, “primarily because of the divided opinion within our own party.”
He left out the fecklessness, the bad faith and the cowardice, but what the hell: Given Biden’s cratering popularity — one recent poll had him trailing Donald Trump among Hispanic voters — it was only a matter of time before some, umm, public-spirited private citizen spoke out.
So why not a Democrat of some residual national stature, oozing ambition and with nothing to lose? It doesn’t hurt that Cuomo’s core message demonstrably is true.
Then there is this: Substitute “Mayor Eric Adams” for “President Biden” in Cuomo’s diagnosis and you get a better sense of what’s going on. Cuomo is very much into self-serving tough love — emphasis on self-serving — and he just delivered a heavy dose.
One that invites two very obvious questions: Why has it fallen to Andrew Cuomo, of all people, to challenge the president? And where has Eric Adams been hiding?
Fair? Never mind fair — this is politics.
What Cuomo describes as “mayhem” is rampant in New York City — on Midtown sidewalks and adjacent to Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field, most especially. But the migrant invasion has also upended municipal finances, rendered Gov. Kathy Hochul deaf and dumb, underscored City Hall’s refusal to lay blame where it belongs and exacerbated New Yorkers’ legitimate concerns over post-pandemic crime and civic disorder.
As situations in search of a savior go, this one certainly is compelling.
And as for saviors in search of a situation — well, Andrew Cuomo never disappoints. (Remember those weather-crisis windbreakers?)
Now he writes in The Hill, “Mayor Eric Adams stands virtually alone.”
Sure he does — but maybe not so much as a lonely hero as an irresistibly tempting target.
For sure, Cuomo comes to the discussion hauling more baggage than a mule train. On Friday, the feds reminded New Yorkers about the sexual harassment allegations that helped drive him from office. And you can’t mention the man’s name without somebody recalling a departed grandmother.
But, as Mario Cuomo is said to have observed, there is nothing shorter than a voter’s memory. They tend to act in the moment, and at this moment, the migrant invasion is what matters most.
Sure, Andrew’s words respect party pieties — he says he’s a proud progressive — and they sure appear to be paving the way for a mayoral primary challenge come ’25.
But so what?
The nation, and New York in particular, is suffering an epic public policy failure, and the only Democrat speaking truth to political power is Andrew Mark Cuomo.
And that should count for something.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
