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Andrew Cuomo and the Art of Leadership

3/20/2020

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Every day for the past few days, Andrew Cuomo, governor of the besieged state of New York, has been conducting a master class in the art of leadership in a crisis. The man who most desperately needs such instruction, unfortunately, doesn’t attend. He’s too busy conducting sessions of the “how not to do it” variety in the White House. I imagine most of you have seen at least snippets of the latter, but you may have missed Gov. Cuomo. If so, click here to see a sample.
 
The difference between the two is striking—in tone, content, and delivery. Cuomo sits at a table, aides seated at a safe distance on either side. Trump stands at a podium, aides crowded shoulder to shoulder behind him. Those visuals alone tell you a lot about the level of respect each gives his assistants in these perilous times. 
 
Cuomo speaks calmly, with assurance, looking at the reporters, gesturing on occasion.  He’s informative and articulate. He uses no notes, but prepared highlights of his main points appear on a screen as he speaks. He exudes genuine concern and believes in what he’s saying. He understands the human condition and shares personal stories. Discussing families in distress, he talks about his experience when his daughter was in isolation and says three-word sentences can make a difference: “I love you. I miss you. I need you.” 
 
He inspires confidence, even as he announces a new level of restriction for the residents of his state. Sensitive to words, he calls his plan New York State on PAUSE: Policies that Assure Uniform Safety for Everyone. “Shelter in Place” scares people, he points out; it’s associated in many people’s minds with active shooter situations or nuclear attacks. 
 
He tells people not to blame anyone county officials, mayors or others of that ilk for the heightened restrictions. “I accept full responsibility,” he declares. When the crisis is over, he wants to be able to say he did everything he could to save lives.
 
In a word, Gov. Cuomo is presidential. 
 
Our president, quite frankly, is not. He doesn’t take responsibility. He doesn’t inspire confidence. He came late to the game and can’t catch up. He sees everything through the prism of his own self-interest. He insults reporters.   
 
My family—siblings, offspring, and nieces and nephews—are scattered about the country. Like all families at times like this, we worry about each other. One of my sons lives in the heart of Manhattan. I’m glad Gov. Cuomo is the guy in charge in that state.
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Grist for the Dems' Campaign Ads

3/19/2020

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No matter who the Democratic nominee is, Trump is obligingly providing all the raw material the party will need for the inevitable parade of attack ads. 
 
He waffles wildly. Regarding the coronavirus, for instance …
 
  • On Jan. 22, he said, “It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”
 
  • Feb. 26 … “We’re going to be pretty soon at only five people. And we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time. So we’ve had very good luck.”
 
  • Feb. 27 … He referred to the coronavirus as a “Democrat hoax” and said “It’s going to disappear. One day—it’s like a miracle—it will disappear.”
 
  • On Mar. 7, asked about the possibility that the virus would spread to D.C., he responded, “No, I’m not concerned at all. No, I’m not. No, we’ve done a great job.”
 
  • Mar. 16 … “it could be right in that period of time [this summer] where it, I say, wash—it washes through.”
 
  • And Mar. 18 … “This is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.”
 
Oh my! Trump lives in his own reality, untethered from Planet Earth and us earthbound earthlings hindered by our old-fashioned commitment to empiricism.
 
Either that—or he lies. Take your pick.
 
Then there’s the boasting. Childlike, he hasn’t yet figured out the sun doesn’t rise and set with him. The universe has other business to attend to. I’m waiting for the day when the long-suffering press corps (how much of this can they take?) rises up, holding signs above their heads, saying, “THIS ISN’T ABOUT YOU!”
 
But that’s a topic for another time.

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Will the Democrats Get What They Don't Want?

3/9/2020

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The Democratic Party is fast becoming the poster child for the Alfred Adler theory that “neurotic safeguarding always gets you what you don’t want.” Those may not have been Adler’s exact words (he was, after all, Austrian, a psychiatrist in the late 19th-early 20th century), but I’m afraid it may be an accurate diagnosis of the Dems’ dilemma.
 
I’m hard-pressed to understand the swift winnowing of an excitingly diverse roster of candidates to a slate of two old, straight, white-guy pols. (I can say that because I’m old myself--and there are several old white guys among my favorite people.) There were many other entries in this race, and while both Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are experienced and qualified, this feels like recycling when what we need a fresh new product.
 
Think back: In the 2016 election, when many voters longed for a disrupter, someone who would tackle rampant income inequality, unaffordable health care, wage stagnation, and unbridled corporate greed, the Dems decided to run a moneyed candidate with long, deep ties to corporate powerhouses and super PACs, one who struggled to connect with voters on a personal level and who proposed little in the way of novel solutions to deep-seated problems. Yes, that candidate was Hillary Clinton, and perhaps the Dems thought selecting a woman made that a bold choice, but it didn’t. 
 
Back then, their other viable option was the aforementioned Mr. Sanders.  Like Clinton, he was far from warm and fuzzy. Unlike Clinton, he proclaimed himself a socialist (not the smartest thing he’s ever done) and ran to the left of almost everybody. But he did have ideas about addressing rampant income inequality, unaffordable health care, wage stagnation, and unbridled corporate greed. The Dems rejected him. 
 
Fast forward to 2020. This year … this year, we thought, would be different. In addition to Joe and Bernie, the Dems were offered a field of diverse candidates, including one who not only proposed fresh solutions to persistent problems—and had plans for carrying them out—but who also had what often seemed to be a nearly-sacrificial personal touch. How many little girls did she engage in the “pinky swear” to let them know they could be anything they chose? How many hours did she stay after rallies so everyone who wanted one could get a “selfie?” How many personal stories did she listen to on cold Midwestern nights?
 
Assertive, caring, smart, inspiring, Elizabeth Warren is the whole package. So why, on Super Tuesday, was she pushed out of contention by voters who swung to the two males now left in the race? Were they so traumatized by the disaster of 2016 that they believed no woman could win against our gender’s arch nemesis Trump? Could they not see the enormous difference between the two women in question?
 
Maybe. But this seems like the coward’s way out. It seems like neurotic safeguarding which—remember—always gets you what you don’t want. I hope I’m wrong.  
 

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    Thoughts for Our Time

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