Pandemic — Governor Andrew Cuomo just set a historic example of plain-spoken, detailed leadership

© 2020 Peter Free

 

22 March 2020

 

 

At last, a capable American leader?

 

One who is not a purely self-interested stooge?

 

 

I just watched . . .

 

. . . New York Governor Andrew Cuomo give a wide-ranging, insightful press conference about New York State's effort to respond intelligently to the COVID-19 epidemic:

 

 

© 2020 NBC News, Gov. Cuomo Briefs On Coronavirus Pandemic, YouTube (22 March 2020)

 

 

Cuomo even addressed the concept of Social Contract. For that, see the above video beginning at 31:30 minutes.

 

 

At the press conference's completion . . .

 

. . . Governor Cuomo had provided the United States with the most outstanding example that I have seen (across seven plus decades) of:

 

 

ad-libbed

 

down-to-earth

 

informatively detailed

 

insightfully nuanced

 

and

 

arguably persuasive

 

leadership.

 

 

The Governor even addressed emotions that people are feeling, during these current generations' unprecedented days.

 

 

Cuomo's was not . . .

 

. . . the remote, eloquent (but manipulatively inclined and hypocritical) intelligence of Barack Obama.

 

Nor the consistently nasty, bragging, narcissistic baseness of Donald Trump.

 

Instead, Governor Cuomo acted like a wisely understanding — and essentially kindly — grandfather speaking to his multi-generational family at a figurative dinner table.

 

 

The moral? — if you have "Leadership with Integrity" ambitions yourself . . .

 

. . . watch the press conference video.

 

Whatever Governor Cuomo's political negatives might be, he is (apparently) someone who is willing to do the explanatory and interventional work that genuine governance arguably requires.

 

Andrew Cuomo's extraordinarily capable press conference today is uniquely impressive across the United States' miserably led last few decades.

 

And note that he essentially ad-libbed all of it.

 

Those of you accustomed to public speaking know how demanding — talking understandably and intelligently from just a few notes is.

 

Respect should be accorded.