Cuomo leads, Biden stumbles
Nominee swap not that farfetched
Democrats are coming down with a sudden case of buyers’ remorse.
While Joe Biden stumbles around to wrap up the Democratic nomination, it’s another Democratic pol — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — who’s emerged as the No. 1 political star of the coronavirus era.
Cuomo is everything Biden is not — a strong orator who oozes leadership and decisiveness. He’s macho without being threatening or creepy.
The liberal New York governor’s daily press briefings have become appointment viewing on the national cable outlets like CNN and MSNBC — and even Fox News.
“Times have changed & we need Gov. Cuomo to be the nominee,” says a Draft Cuomo Twitter account that recently popped up. “Our next POTUS must be one w/an ability to lead through his crisis.”
But could it really happen? Will Democrats move to make Cuomo their nominee, bumping out Biden, who is quickly amassing enough delegates to secure the nomination?
Yes, it can happen — if the coronavirus crisis continues to worsen and Biden continues to flounder. It would take a series of seemingly unlikely series of events to make Cuomo the nominee.
Biden’s victories on Super Tuesday and Super Tuesday 2 put him on the path toward the nomination but the former vice president virtually disappeared when the crisis began to take a turn for the worse. He has struggled to become relevant in the past few weeks, appearing on soft shows like “The View” and delivering a strange livestream speech in his library that did not inspire optimism.
“We have to take care of the cure,” Biden said in another of his nonsensical ramblings. “That will make the problem worse no matter what.”
It’s been quite a contrast to Cuomo, who deftly handles his daily briefings with a strong hand and warns Americans and New Yorkers that the pandemic could reach tragic proportions.
Cuomo’s one-liners have become daily headlines.
In a tour of the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, which could be turned into a temporary hospital, Cuomo said, “This was never an anticipated use, but you do what you have to do … that’s the New York way. That’s the American way.”
He has been blunt about the damage the crisis has done to the economy and doesn’t shy away from giving bad news.
“Sometimes in these positions you have to make difficult decisions,” he said. “My adage in these disasters, emergencies has always been do everything you can, prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
“The economy you can fix. You can’t remedy your health. You can’t remedy loss of life.”
In order for Cuomo to emerge with the nomination, it would take the continued postponement of upcoming primaries, preventing Biden from winning enough delegates to be the de facto nominee.
And if Biden continues to stumble, looking unpresidential and unfit to handle this crisis, the calls will get louder for him to step aside and hand his delegates to Cuomo.
Sounds unlikely, but who would have ever thought the world would be shutdown due to a virus?