Much to my surprise Governor Cuomo still has at least one fanboy, Robert Golomb:
“… . Cuomo’s victory, despite the disappointing final count, gives him the opportunity to build on the same successes of his governorship that made him so popular prior to this year. Those successes, which were well-publicized throughout the state and even captured some national media attention included delivering the state budget on time for four consecutive years, an accomplishment not witnessed in Albany in three decades; producing in response to the Newton Connecticut Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, the passage of the NY SAFE ACT, which among other provisions, mandates background checks for all gun sales; creating more than a half-million private sector jobs and reducing the state unemployment rate from the 8.2 percent when he took office to its current level of 5.6 percent …”
That’s an impressive amount of BS packed into one paragraph. Ken Lovett’s piece in the usually disreputable Daily News offers a reality check:
“… Just 18% of the state’s 10.8 million registered voters actually voted for Cuomo, who beat Republican Rob Astorino by 13 points. And Cuomo only got 743,679 votes in New York City, compared to de Blasio’s 795,679 votes in 2013. “Talk about a mandate,” joked one Democratic insider sarcastically. “These guys were the first ones out there bashing the mayor for his vote total — and (Cuomo) did even worse.” Overall, Cuomo got 1.9 million votes — about a million less than when he was first elected four years ago. Astorino got virtually the same 1.5 million votes as Cuomo’s GOP foe four years ago. Turnout was anemic this year …”
This isn’t the sign of a popular politician. Plus, he left out the fact that in order to win Cuomo forged a sleazy deal with the Republicans to undermine Astorino and suppress turnout. Astorino actually beat Cuomo upstate. If the GOP machine got behind Astorino he could have won.
Now that the election is over, who is celebrating? Nobody. The Governor himself has gone back into hiding. Yes, Cuomo won but the bigger win goes to the Tammany machine for more or less keeping the status quo.