RIP, Mario Cuomo
As you’ve likely heard, 3 time governor of NY Mario Cuomo died yesterday. Cuomo was one of the best voices for progressive politics in my lifetime, and a frustrating leader who couldn’t seem to commit to leading the charge to implement those politics — turning down opportunities to run for President and to be on the Supreme Court. Still, he was a brilliant speaker, providing some of the best defenses and descriptions of liberal politics ever:
“We believe that a society as blessed as ours, the most affluent democracy in the world’s history, one that can spend trillions on instruments of destruction, ought to be able to help the middle class in its struggle, 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. And we proclaim as loudly as we can the utter insanity of nuclear proliferation and the need for a nuclear freeze, if only to affirm the simple truth that peace is better than war because life is better than death.”
I hope that all Democrats are spending time thinking about Cuomo and the principles he championed — because the Tale of Two Cities is getting more entrenched, and there are many more Americans get that their government is still trying to make the rich richer and hoping that somehow the middle class, working class and poor folks just won’t notice.
His 1984 Keynote address to the Democratic Convention should be a required watch for all Democrats. Especially office holders.
Yep. Especially his son.
and a pretty damn good ball player.
In 1984, Democrats didn’t know how to respond to Reagan’s oozing schmarm that was just eaten up by white voters. Mario Cuomo put his finger on it and said it out loud, but nobody was listening, especially not Democrats cowed by the conservative movement.