Mario And Andrew

Takeaway from Fred Dicker's Post column today?

Andrew Cuomo is working his daddy issues out on the state:

Friends and associates of Gov. Cuomo privately predict difficult times ahead for the governor as he adjusts to the end of his unusually dependent relationship with his strong-willed father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, who died Thursday.

“Andrew holds most people in contempt, but that wasn’t true of his father, one of the few people he genuinely looked to and needed for positive reinforcement,’’ a longtime friend of the younger Cuomo told The Post.

Cuomo family intimates predicted over the weekend that Andrew — who reveled in his father’s praise when he won adoption of a gay-marriage law — will even more aggressively pursue a liberal agenda in his second term.

Such a left-of-center direction was hinted at by Cuomo last week as he railed against “income inequality’’ during two inaugural addresses a short time before his father passed away.

Many close to both Cuomos describe a stormy and at times confrontational relationship between the two strong-willed men.

One of the earliest rifts occurred in the mid-1980s when Andrew Cuomo, attempting to start his own law practice after leaving as a “special adviser’’ in his father’s newly established administration, became involved with developers seeking to do business with the state.

Andrew’s actions, which received high-profile press coverage amid charges of conflict of interest, deeply embarrassed the then-governor, who successfully pressured his son to move his career in another direction. The wound between them took years to heal.

The worst rift occurred nearly a decade later when Andrew, a newly appointed assistant secretary at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, repeatedly warned his father not to seek re-election to a fourth term in 1994.

“Mario Cuomo was a fierce critic, and he was an especially fierce critic of his son,’’ said one of the oldest friends of the Cuomo family.

“That took a toll on Andrew, really shook him up and because of that, ever since then, I think part of his motivation in life has been to impress father,’’ the family friend said.

I've read before this that the Cuomos had a complex relationship, so I'm not surprised by this news.

Just as George W Bush tried working his mommy and daddy issues out on the country, Cuomo seems to be working his daddy issues on the state.

It's a shame these pols just don't go to therapy and work they're stuff out on the couch.

But instead they work it out writ large on the political stage.

Last thing to say here - I have a hard time seeing Andrew "aggressively pursue a liberal agenda in his second term."

If anything, with Mario now gone, Andrew doesn't have to worry that his father will criticize him for being a corporate whore anymore - like he did when Andy tried starting his law practice in the 1980's.

My view is, Andrew Cuomo will push a few high profile "liberal" causes while continuing to pursue his mostly center-right agenda - especially as he gets ready to fulfill his promise to "break" the public school system.

After all, that's where the money is.

Cuomo Doubles Down On "Public Schools Are A Monopoly" Statement

Just in case you thought maybe the Daily News took Governor Cuomo out of context when they quoted him saying that public schools are a "monopoly" that he plans to "break" in his second term, there is this from today:

A firestorm ignited between several state public education advocacy groups and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over remarks he made to the New York Daily News editorial board published Monday—in which he threatened to “break” what he deemed “one of the only remaining public monopolies,” New York’s public school system—grew hotter Wednesday, with more groups joining in his criticism.

Cuomo vowed to offer competition to public schools in order to raise the bar on the current education system via an expansion of charter schools and punitive teacher evaluation systems if re-elected. He dismissed educators’ and parents’ concerns about tying teacher evaluations to standardized test scores—a practice that has come under enormous scrutiny since the botched roll-out of the Common Core curriculum two years ago.

Despite the initial backlash, Cuomo reiterated the controversial statements later that day during a tour of Mineola Middle School intended to showcase his Smart Schools Act proposal, which would provide up to $2 billion in tech funding for schools throughout the state if approved by public referendum on Nov. 4.

 “As governor, I’ve probably spent more of my time trying to change the education system than anything else,” Cuomo told reporters after a briefing on the funding plan. “Why? It is very hard to change the education system. When you think about it, it’s probably the single-largest public monopoly in the United States of America.”

There you have it - Cuomo has doubled down on the threat to "break" the public school monopoly in his next term.

The threat is real and it WILL happen unless parents, teachers and public school advocates mobilize to stop him.

Cuomo CAN be beaten in this fight - make no mistake about that.

But beating him will require a coordinated effort.

Remember that Wall Street, the corporate deformers and the corporate journalists will be with him in this fight.

FireDogLake: Time To Fight Corporate Democrats Who Shill For Education Privatization

DS Wright at FireDogLake:

While President Obama’s former spokesman, Robert Gibbs, manages a national public relations campaign against teachers unions, the National Education Association (NEA) has finally decided it has had enough of Team Obama’s union busting. The NEA has now called on Education Secretary Arne Duncan to resign.

...

Duncan may have made a misstep when he publicly supported a court decision in California that destroyed teacher tenure and job protections, a shill too far?

...


Though it is unlikely Duncan will resign, the call for his resignation from the NEA may be a turning point for the teachers unions who have largely refused to substantively push back against the privatization agenda that Obama has been pushing for five years. Unions typically go light on Democrats which is one of the reasons privatizers do everything they can to use them in their fight to wreck public schools.

The policies of “education reformers” – charter schools, merit pay, vouchers, drill and kill testing to evaluate teachers – that Duncan has promoted have consistently proved not to work. Though the reformers/privatizers constantly point to America’s poor rankings compared to other developed countries, none of those superior countries have adopted the policies the privatizers are promoting, in fact, most have strong unions and lots of public investment and control. So it is a rather strange argument to make, isn’t it?

Nonetheless, it is well past time for teachers to start educating corporate Democrats as to what happens when you try to destroy public education.

It is well past time to take on corporate Dems like Obama, Cuomo, Emanuel, et al. - unless you're Randi Weingarten, of course, in which case you send out a strongly worded letter, then appear at the next Duncan "Teacher Bash" fest to shill for "Excellent Educator Equity".

Yeah, that'll show 'em, Randi.

How Many Teachers Voted For Obama In 2012?

I didn't - not after Race to the Top and Arne Duncan and the Rhode Island teacher firings that Obama applauded.

But I bet lots of teachers out there still voted for Obama because they were scared that Mitt Romney might get elected.

Well, here's what Obama and his people are doing now, teachers:

Teachers unions are girding for a tough fight to defend tenure laws against a coming blitz of lawsuits — and an all-out public relations campaign led by former aides to President Barack Obama.

The Incite Agency, founded by former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs and former Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt, will lead a national public relations drive to support a series of lawsuits aimed at challenging tenure, seniority and other job protections that teachers unions have defended ferociously. LaBolt and another former Obama aide, Jon Jones — the first digital strategist of the 2008 campaign — will take the lead in the public relations initiative.

And you can bet Obama supports his former aides working to destroy the teaching profession and protections for teachers, because that's exactly what Race to the Top and the rest of the Obama education policies were all about.

In the future, don't let the bogeyman scare you away from NOT voting for an anti-teacher, anti-public education Democrat.

 

I refuse to be bullied into voting for an education reform Democrat no matter who he/she is running against.

 

Take New York, for example.

 

I'm not supporting Cuomo no matter what - not even if a poll the night before the election shows GOP candidate Rob Astorino within striking distance of Sheriff Andy.

 

Cuomo is anti-teacher, anti-traditional public schools and anti-union - so I am anti-Cuomo no matter what.

 

Obama is also anti-teacher, anti-traditional public schools and anti-union - so I am anti-Obama no matter what.

 

Teachers who supported Obama despite his record - well, he's paying you back now as he sends forth Obama administration shills to attack teachers. 

The Lesson For Liberals And Progressives In The Eric Cantor Defeat

Buh-bye, Eric:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was defeated Tuesday by a little-known economics professor in Virginia’s Republican primary, a stunning upset and major victory for the tea party.

Cantor is the second-most powerful member of the U.S. House and was seen by some as a possible successor to the House speaker.

His loss to Dave Brat, a political novice with little money marks a huge victory for the tea party movement, which supported Cantor just a few years ago.

Brat had been a thorn in Cantor’s side on the campaign, casting the congressman as a Washington insider who isn’t conservative enough. Last month, a feisty crowd of Brat supporters booed Cantor in front of his family at a local party convention.

His message apparently scored well with voters in the 7th District.

“There needs to be a change,” said Joe Mullins, who voted in Chesterfield County Tuesday. The engineering company employee said he has friends who tried to arrange town hall meetings with Cantor, who declined their invitations.

Tiffs between the GOP’s establishment and tea party factions have flared in Virginia since tea party favorite Ken Cuccinelli lost last year’s gubernatorial race. Cantor supporters have met with stiff resistance in trying to wrest control of the state party away from tea party enthusiasts, including in the Cantor’s home district.

Brat teaches at Randolph-Macon College, a small liberal arts school north of Richmond. He raised just more than $200,000 for his campaign, according to the most recent campaign finance reports. Prominent national tea party groups did spend independently to help Brat.

Brat offset the the cash disadvantage with endorsements from conservative activists like radio host Laura Ingraham, and with help from local tea party activists angry at Cantor.

The teacher tenure story in California remains the biggest story of the day, but House Majority Leader Eric Cantor getting knocked off by a Tea Partier is a pretty close second.

You can bet Cantor's defeat will catch the notice of GOP insiders and party stalwarts.

Contrast what happened to Cantor tonight with the surrender the Working Families Party did on the Cuomo endorsement last month.

Until people on the left start taking these smarmy corporate Dems out the way the Tea Party just took out the smarmy Cantor, corporate Dems will continue to take the left for granted, will say anything they need to in order to get votes, then pull a full betrayal as soon as the election is over.

You start primarying a few of these corporate Dems and knocking a couple of them off and you can bet they'll stop taking you for granted.

It's a shame the left hasn't learned this lesson yet - not in 2012 with Obama, not in 2014 with Cuomo.

Maybe the left will learn it someday.

But probably not.