The childish governor

I’ve waited more than a year to write anything about our governor, because there were investigations happening and I like to wait to see what, if anything, is found.

By now you’ve heard about or read the Attorney General’s report which concluded Andrew Cuomo did indeed sexually harass nearly a dozen women. Before I tell you what I think, let me share a theory I have always had about men and boys. This theory is not backed up by any medical studies or wellrespected papers in psychiatric journals, it’s just a gut feeling I know down to my bones is true because I was once a boy and am now a man. And what I’m about to say may well be true for little girls who grow up to be strong, confident women as well.

Boys are wired to work and achieve things on their own. Show me a well-adjusted adult male and I can likely show you someone who was not given everything in their life, especially at a young age. The people forced to work for things and accept defeat are gifted with a humility and appreciation that one could never get if born into wealth or privilege. I’m not saying poverty is a virtue, or a blue-collar upbringing is better than any other, but it certainly makes you appreciate kindness, daily necessities and the very air that fills your lungs.

I have always felt that boys who have their path laid out for them, may from the outside appear to have everything, but the reality is they suffer an emptiness inside that no Rolex can fill. Having your parents leave you a million-dollar business is nice, and you certainly may live in a better zip code, but I don’t believe you can ever feel the pride of a classmate who bootstrapped their way to success and paid for every inch of it with sweat equity.

I’ll be 59 this year so I’m not that much younger than Andrew Cuomo. Because we are fairly close in age and because as a young journalist I admired his father, I have watched Andrew and his brother Chris and their rapid ascension into whatever school they wanted to attend or career they wanted to pursue. Does Chris Cuomo get to host a primetime TV show on CNN if his last name isn’t Cuomo? It’s probably as likely as Jenna Bush getting paid an enormous salary to work on the Today show. Wealth and name recognition have their privileges.

Then there’s the governor.

After graduating from law school in 1982 he went to work for his father who was just elected governor. Not a bad first job a few months out of school. He did some work for the homeless for a few years and suddenly found himself the Assistant HUD Secretary under President Clinton.at the age of 35. That’s a big job for someone with his resume at that point. Didn’t matter, he was promoted to Secretary of HUD a year later. Do you think there may have been a few people more qualified for that job, who worked decades in housing? We can only wonder.

He felt qualified to be your governor in 2002, but the democratic party went with the more seasoned Carl McCall. Four years later he decided crime-fighting sounded more fun and ran for Attorney General, winning. This all set up his run for governor in 2010 with the help and backing of a very popular Barack Obama.

It’s a remarkable achievement if you stare at it from a distance, but up close you see other more accomplished men, Clinton, Obama, his father, pulling the strings to help him. It’s nice to have friends like that, but I take you back to my point about boys and men and truly earning what you have achieved.

Which leads me back to the sexual assault report and his strange pre-taped denial that he has done anything wrong. Someone at the gym asked me if I thought it was possible “they” were just out to get him? He never said who “they” were. My response was simple, eleven women, most of whom don’t know each other, some who worked at the capitol and some who didn’t. One of them a young state trooper. You’re wondering if “they” all orchestrated this master plot to bring him down? Oh, and got dozens of others to play along and back up their stories with text messages and emails and eye-witness testimony. Sure pal, whatever you say.

I watched the governor’s denial and victim blaming and felt like I was watching a small child who has been caught stealing the cookies. The crumbs are literally on their face and shirt, but they don’t have the maturity yet to just say, “I did it. I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

Instead, the child shakes their head, despite the mounting evidence, and says, “It wasn’t me.” Looking into Andrew Cuomo’s eyes I could only wonder if he lacks the maturity to tell the truth. Or the understanding that this time, perhaps for the first time in his life, there’s no one to call to fix this and make it go away.

I can only wonder, with my half-baked theory, had a little less been given to a young Andrew Cuomo, had every door not been opened along the way, he might have turned out a better person. One with true humility and the grace and courage to admit his sin.