Wednesday July 1, 2020; 11:23 AM EDT
- I know a lot of people don't like Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York. I had a sligntly negative opinion of him before the virus hit. My mom didn't like him. She said NY Democrats were really Republicans. I trusted her opinion on that. #
- I also remember his father ran a really dirty personal campaign against Ed Koch, so dirty that if he did it today he'd be disqualified from running for anything as a Democrat. I've heard it said that young Andrew did the awful deed. I don't know. #
- Anyway somehow I've never engaged in state politics here, never understood why a city like NY isn't its own thing at a national level. More people live in the metro area than in the rest of the state. A nice little state could be formed with the five boroughs, Westchester, Rockland, Nassau and Suffolk counties. #
- Anyway, I went from meh on Cuomo to admiring him when he led us when we desperately needed leadership. I've never seen a politician rise to the occasion like Cuomo did with the virus. Never. #
- Now the process is more or less complete in New York. Our immediate neighbors, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts have also done an outstanding job of controlling the virus. #
- But then there's the rest of the country. Ultimately our health will be the same as the country's. So if the US doesn't get its act together, soon, we're going to be right back where we were in March. Except it will be much worse for a couple of reasons. #
- Wear and tear. In many ways we've used up the reserves we had, as people, as economic beings, in our relationships with other people. Rent is due today, it's a crisis for an unthinkable number of people. There's going to be hunger soon, on a scale not seen here in my lifetime, and who knows how bad it will get. It's here now, in March, it was just looming. School is scheduled to resume in a couple of months, but no one really thinks it will. #
Math. Based on a NYT study, the virus had spread much more than we realized by March, but now it's had another three months to push into every nook and cranny of the country. This wave is going to crest a lot higher than the first one, assuming we can manage to get it to crest before everyone is infected. The higher density means when you go to the supermarket instead of on average there being 1/2 of a Covid carrier with you, now there will be 3. And the load in the air you're breathing will probably be an order of magnitude more dense. Which means you and I will get it, where two months ago, we wouldn't have. Everything about the virus, math-wise, has led the curve straight up, vertical. We're there now. Exploring terrible new territory. It's like being cast out of a space ship in a vacuum with very little oxygen and no possibility of a rescue ship. We're going to have to ride this out.#- Cuomo, in his daily briefings, kept saying look at the numbers, look at the numbers. Okay. Assuming he is looking at the numbers, he sees we're at the very last moment when the government might be able to help. Not unlike the position NY, Connecticut and NJ were in in March. So here are the two questions on my mind.#
- When I think about the second question I think of Biden. He's in a position to appoint Cuomo his top adviser on the the virus. Then Cuomo has a sliver of a national platform to speak on. Not unlike the sliver of a platform Fauci has. And what about the Repubs? Now everyone but Trump is actively saying Wear A Mask. Great. That's new. What more could they do right now? #
- Have Fauci testify in the Senate, and treat him with respect. That would send a strong message to the country and the world. Even if the orange blob tweeting in the bunker doesn't get it, we do, and we're taking charge. #
- Even better, have Andrew Cuomo testify, and let him spew his Cuomo arrogance. Let him lecture. Let him show you the numbers. Let him tell you what to do. With Fauci next to him, agreeing, and now we have a much better shot than we had with the leadership of Pence, who still hasn't let go of his allegiance to Trump (he must have some good dirt on him).#
- Let's get our shit together while we still have shit to get together.#