| The working presumption seems to be Biden will be top pick to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. Clinton has said before she does not want to serve a second term.
The "prominent" Republican is Former New York GOP boss William Powers, who Dicker credits with playing a "key role" in electing Rudy Giuliani mayor and George Pataki governor. Powers is quoted as saying:
"Andrew had a fabulous session. It was fabulous. A property-tax cap, ethics reform and, for Democrats, gay marriage," said Powers.
"I don't think there's any doubt Obama is going to pick him as his running mate. The president is in trouble and [Vice President Joseph] Biden doesn't bring anything to his ticket.
"The president will call him up later this year and say, 'Andrew, you have to do this for the good of the country.' What's Andrew going to say, 'No?' "
Let us all pause for a moment to consider a "top Republican" is calling Cuomo's record "fabulous."
OK.
Let us then reflect on Air Melber's piece in The Nation wherein he assesses the sudden enthusiasm for Andrew Cuomo and fervent speculation about his plans for 2016. Melber concludes: Cuomo's Big Problem in 2016: Democrats. "Cuomo has governed as a red-state conservative, cutting taxes for millionaires while decimating services for children and the elderly," says one Democratic operative who has worked for Cuomo and other government officials, adding, "He placed the interests of big business over all else."
Melber even links and quotes kossack Constantinople's Daily Kos diary from June 28, as evidence of progressive and Democratic pushback:
But while the same-sex marriage achievement is a terrific one...Cuomo has otherwise governed New York like a red-state conservative (not just a New York Republican, but a Christie-like conservative) who has made the New York Post editorial page swoon: ending taxes for millionaires, while cutting services for the elderly, children, disabled, ignoring environmental hazards to protect the deep-pocketed gas drilling industry, and waging a war on labor.
Melber goes on to expand on Cuomo's record on education thus far.
Eric Alterman, a columnist for The Nation and the Daily Beast, notes that Cuomo's budget will cost New York schools 2,600 teachers and another 1,000 city workers, "many of whom work in health care for the poor, at a time when the need for both could hardly be greater." Those cuts were not inevitable austerity measures, Alterman emphasizes, since Cuomo "fought tooth and nail to ensure the death of New York's millionaire tax, at exactly the moment when its proceeds might have been able to prevent exactly [these] kinds of cuts."
The "prominent" Democrat Fred Dicker is quoting is former mayor of San Francisco Willie Brown. Huh.
Dicker reports Brown as saying: "He's a big name, a big-state governor, and a Democrat who is taking on the issue of public-employee salaries and pensions. Plus, he looks good," Brown said of Cuomo.
I found San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to be an odd person to include in this story. Dicker is known for his Albany connections, and it isn't as though Brown has distinguished himself as a go-to pundit for national or New York politics. So I started Googling and stumbled up this:
[Willie Brown] enthusiastically endorsed Proposition B, a pension- and benefits reform measure on the November 2 ballot -- even crossing a union picket line to host a September fundraiser for the initiative. Public-employee unions, stalwart supporters of Brown during his 15 years as speaker of the California State Assembly and his two terms as Mayor of San Francisco, do not try to mask their sense of the betrayal.
Blech. Brown is a Democrat that doesn't stand with unions? When did that become "optional" for the Democratic party? It needs to stop.
As a gay man, I am very grateful to Cuomo for his fierce advocacy on behalf of marriage equality, of course. His leadership on that issue was remarkable and set a new Gold Standard for the movement by which we can use to measure our other "friends" and "advocates." Most will find themselves suffering by comparison, as The Baltimore Sun has done today and found Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley's leadership in 2011 sadly lacking Cuomo's level of engagement and commitment.
And as a gay man, Cuomo's flavor of fierce advocacy for LGBT community isn't quite enough, though. In fact, Cuomo has proven himself significantly less friendly to our community on issues relating to HIV and youth homeless services, also important priorities for many in the LGBT community.
And, as glad as I am to see Governor Cuomo cashing in a big bonanza of political capital on the issue, I also don't want to see a single, shining achievement used to distract from a plethora of other concerns that are vitally important to the entire coalition. These things concern me greatly, as a human, and a progressive.
Additionally, 2012 is awfully early for New Yorkers to part with yet another Governor. I certainly hoped we might have more time to work with Cuomo and help him correct the current direction his administration has taken on policy decisions.
I can't say I recommend my Governor take his act on the road.
At this point in his tenure, there are a lot of questions about his commitment to core Democratic values like social safety net programs, education, unions and the environment.
This is not the sort of influence I would like to see join the inner circle of the Obama administration in its second term.
This is likely just Dicker's attempt to play cute with the conversation.
But, if Joe Biden comes to need replacing, the Democratic party can do better, in my opinion. Maybe even from the Empire State. |
