The Republican lovefest surrounding New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is getting comical. From Matthew Continetti:
Something else we know: I can't think of a savvier Democrat in the country than New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The man swings from success to success. He passed a major budget deal that cuts spending and reforms Medicaid without new taxes . He shepherded a huge gay rights victory. And now he's looking to open New York to hydraulic fracturing, making him a supply-sider on energy policy
What's more, Cuomo is likely to benefit from two pro-GOP cycles (2010 and 2012) that deprive the Democrats of fresh talent. Something similar happened to the GOP in 2006 and 2008, which is one reason Republican party regulars are so unenthusiastic about their 2012 presidential options. I'm scratching my head, trying to come up with other recently elected or nationally prominent Democrats who've demonstrated the political skill of Andrew Cuomo. The only one I can think of is education secretary Arne Duncan, but presumably he’ll need to be elected to some sort of office before running for president.
Look, we get it. Cuomo is a conservativish Democrat on non-social issues. Conservatives would prefer to see someone like him get the nomination. There's no need to pretend that the phrase "2016 frontrunner" has any actual meaning, anymore than the effusive praise from the right that Cuomo has gotten so much of recently. Even if Cuomo runs, he'll have to move to the left of where he is now, at which point all this adoration will turn to one op-ed after another lamenting the tragic fall of moderate Democrat Andrew Cuomo, who has now abandoned his principles to sup with socialists. Then, just as it would have been with any Republican dubbed "sane" by the left, Cuomo would suddenly become a power-mad partisan lunatic.
