HUNGRY GERALD

Mario Cuomo, who died recently, was a three-term Governor of New York State. He was the greatest orator HG ever heard (Others might give the laurels to Martin Luther King. Both were majestic). The speech Mario Cuomo delivered to the Democratic convention in 1984 was a landmark in political oratory and as relevant today in 2015 as it was more than 30 years ago. In the speech Cuomo challenged the Republican vision of America as “a shining city on a hill.” Cuomo stressed the “hard truth” of another city—one of low pay, helplessness and fear. “A city where there are people who sleep in the city streets, in the gutter, where the glitter doesn’t show.” HG was always sad that Mario Cuomo never ran for the Presidency (even though his admirers continuously advised him to do so). Cuomo wanted Americans to embrace the idea that government could be a force for good. His obituary in The Economist Magazine put it well: “His alternative prescription to Republican frontier individualism which abandoned the poor, elderly and struggling to the side of the trail, was heartfelt Democratic liberalism, calling on Americans to become one community, exercise compassion and recognize that ‘at the heart of the matter we are bound one to another.’ ” Curiously, HG and Cuomo were opponents many decades ago in the Borough of Queens (then a highly contentious political arena, not the astoundingly multi-ethnic community it has become). HG, as public relations counsel to massive real estate interests, and Cuomo as a young lawyer making his first appearance in politics. Cuomo represented community groups in two communities–Corona and Forest Hills–who were battling real estate developers. In Corona, HG and his greedy clients, were demolished by Cuomo. HG shook Cuomo’s hand, expressed admiration and hoped that in the future they would be on the same side. Not to be. They were opponents again in Forest Hills. HG had learned a lesson. HG convinced his clients to accept Cuomo’s adroit compromise.

Tagged Mario Cuomo