Gov. Andrew Cuomo is plainly in his element in this crisis, immersing himself in policy detail as he acts decisively — and makes no bones about what he thinks other leaders should be doing.
And if it happens to raise his national political profile, well — hasn’t he earned it?
Cuomo made the call to deploy the National Guard to help create a one-mile isolation zone in New Rochelle when it proved a COVID-19 hotspot. He plainly pushed Mayor Bill de Blasio to Sunday’s decision to close the city’s schools. And he’s muscled the Legislature to give him all the powers he thinks he needs to get New York through the crisis.
Plus, he was the force behind the tri-state governors’ move to coordinate plans on quarantines and business closings.
He’s certainly not holding anyone’s coat, as Cuomo infamously sneered about Gov. George Pataki’s support of Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the weeks after 9/11. (Just as well, since de Blasio left his coat at the gym.)
And all over social media, you can see people across the spectrum appreciating Cuomo’s leadership right now.
But he needs to watch the sharp elbows. It’s one thing to tell reporters at a press conference that they don’t know what they’re talking about; another to throw punches at rival leaders who don’t answer to him.
President Trump says he’s “looking at” Cuomo’s request for the Army Corps of Engineers to provide help in building new emergency hospital space. We expect that Sen. Chuck Schumer and others will consider the gov’s hope that the next corona emergency-funding bill not tie his hands in finding Medicaid savings, too.
But griping too loudly, too publicly about it risks serious blowback.
By and large, we think Cuomo’s simply doing what he thinks is needed — especially where others are falling short. And if he’s angling for a Cabinet post should Democrats retake the White House, and/or setting up a 2024 run, so be it.
But the gov is also far too used to being the smartest guy in the room, and palpably impatient with anyone who’s not with his program.
It’s all good to be the man in a hurry right now — as long as you pace yourself for an emergency that will go on for weeks if not months.
