Mario Matthew Cuomo believed in government.
He could also turn a phrase.
No surprise, then, that his election as New York's 52nd governor in 1982 propelled him to national prominence.
Hadn't Cuomo defeated a Ronald Reagan mini-me, Lewis Lehrman in November? For sure, it wasn't a blowout, but a win is a win, and this one came as Reagan himself was hitting his stride in Washington and government was in bad odor everywhere in America — including overwhelmingly Democratic New York.
He brought oratorical magic with him as he confidently appeared at Albany's Empire State Convention Center on Inauguration Day 1983 — propelled to the microphones by a dangerously high-decibel rendering of Neil Diamond's enduring anthem to immigration, "Coming to America."
If ever a candidate was well-paired with a campaign theme-song, it was Mario to "America."
The loyal son of immigrants, Cuomo lived the assimilation experience — traveling the poor man's route to the degrees and other credentials that made a career in high-level New York possible. But along the way, he also acquired resentments and insecurities that many believe wouldn't allow him to take the next step and seek the presidency.
There were no hesitations on that frigid Albany afternoon 30 years ago yesterday; a triumphantly joyous Mario Cuomo laid out his intention to return the Empire State to its progressive roots — to recreate a government that Teddy Roosevelt, Al Smith, FDR and Nelson Rockefeller would both embrace and applaud.
Alas.
Cuomo's immediate predecessor, Hugh Carey, had spent most of his eight years in Albany coping with the excesses of expansive government — especially with Rockefeller's barely concealed contempt for constitutional spending restrictions.
Bankruptcy is never pretty, and New York — city and state — had come closer to the brink than most appreciated. Cuomo had the additional misfortune of assuming office as America's Rust Belt decline was emptying much of upstate New York of industry, employment and opportunity.
Thus did circumstance constrict Mario Cuomo's opportunities. In the end, his grand initiative would turn out to be a doubling of the state's prison capacity — nothing to be proud of, in his view, however necessary it might have been during the crime-plagued '80s and early '90s.
But Cuomo remained a lodestar to America's left. His "Tale of Two Cities" speech (ring a bell?) at the Democratic National Convention in 1984 electrified liberals nationwide. And his eloquence while treading tricky political terrain confirmed his singularity.
But, again, he could never quite take the next step. Flirtations with the presidency in 1988 and 1992 came to nothing — nor did a widely rumored appointment to the US Supreme Court. The truth was that, for whatever reason, Mario Cuomo simply lacked whatever it is that propels candidates to the national stage — and that, let's be quite clear, is not necessarily a bad thing.
Cuomo was a rough-and-tumble player no matter what the game, and he rarely forgot a slight — to say nothing of forgiving one.
He was almost monastic in his approach to his responsibilities — up at ungodly early hours to prepare for grueling days, and rare indeed was the adversary who could best him at policy details.
And he was capable of touching acts of no-strings-attached kindness, while taking elaborate care not to let that show.
Through it all, there was Andrew, his first son and loyal ally — sworn in yesterday for a second term in Albany three decades after Mario first took the oath.
It was a nuanced relationship — some would say fraught — but the father's love for, and pride in, the son was so obvious, it barely warranted comment. And vice versa.
Think of it as the immigrant experience, embodied and ratified.
No doubt Mario did. RIP.
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