Et Tu, Cuomo?
Power Corrupts, Then, If We're Lucky, Shifts
Come on, Cuomo. You let a whole bunch of people down, and down hard. Take me. I was squarely in Camp Cuomo during the pandemic, you scrappy champion of New York duking it out in those daily briefings, railing against the scourge of Trump, but between fudging the nursing home death numbers and now, this…
Can you be a good civil servant and a liar? That’s a tough one. There are lies told for the greater good, I suppose, so maybe the answer is maybe. Can you be a good civil servant and a sexual predator? Easy. No. A big, whomping, bipartisan no.
Power. That’s what it’s all about. A horndog in a position of power is dangerously morally rudderless. “The heart wants what the heart wants,” to quote Emily Dickinson, as quoted by Woody Allen, the sexual predator/director I once worked with after landing a minor role (which was subsequently cut) in the film “Manhattan”. “Manhattan” is Allen’s poignant ode to New York and statutory rape, in which he typecast himself as Isaac, a twice-divorced 42-year-old comedy writer who is dating Tracy, a 17-year-old high school girl played by Mariel Hemingway. Is that fucked up? Yes. Why didn’t we see it as fucked up in 1979? Beats me. And also, while we’re on the subject, fuck you, Woody Allen.
Forgive me. I am furious, and I digress.
President, Governor, Movie Mogul, Acclaimed Director. The list is long, and each one can add Sexual Predator to their Wikipedia entries. They don’t get to leave untarnished legacies, because their dicks got in the way. Their victims, who have been harassed, abused, traumatized, careers derailed, will no longer be collateral damage while their predator’s stars keep ascending.
Which brings me to Andrew Cuomo, and this more measured conclusion, after 24 hours to cool down and reflect.
I read what Cuomo’s accusers have said, and the seduction playbook of the groomer in mentor’s clothing is just so horribly familiar. It’s triggering, and I think my outrage is commensurate with my own experiences and my disappointment in Cuomo himself. It’s clear that at the very least he’s got terrible judgment and it likely that his transgressions go deeper.
Ultimately, I believe the accusers. I also believe the truth will out.
I have talked myself off the ledge, but Cuomo’s still on the hook. That’s a power shift that I can live with.