The Politics that Died With Mario Cuomo
More than any other politician in recent memory, Mario Cuomo spent a lot of time talking publicly about death, particularly his own. In 1987, Cuomo, who’d been a minor league baseball player in the early ‘50s, fantasized about dying while sliding into home plate, to culminate an inside-the-park home run. “That’s it!” he said, in a conversation captured by Joe Klein. “That would be the way to go.”
The gap between that poetic demise and the prosaic home setting where he died yesterday was emblematic for Mario Cuomo. His ability to inspire liberals (especially white ones) with a New Deal, working-class vision of government was unparalleled for at least a generation. At the same time, his incomplete delivery meant that most conversations about him were about degrees of disappointment.
His landmark speech at the 1984 Democratic convention galvanized millions, with its call for a government that “ought to be able to find work for all who can do it, room at the table, shelter for the homeless, care for the elderly and infirm, and hope for the destitute.” Yet it set voters up for the ultimate disappointment when, in late 1991, he passed up the opportunity to run for president.
Many have offered explanations for that infamous refusal, since the official version – he needed to work on the state budget – was so unsatisfying. There were multiple reasons, but it’s a sure bet that his opponents – even in the primaries – would have sensationalized his Mafia connections. . . (Read more from the story, “New York Governor Dies” HERE)
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