“Blame me.”

With two remarkable words, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo established himself as the leader the country needs during these plague days. On Friday, Cuomo essentially shut down the economy of his state, and of its largest city, which happens to be the largest city in this country. He did so in order to fight the public-health catastrophe that is engulfing his state and the country.

These were not words we ever will hear from the country’s president*, or, likely, anyone who works for him. Cuomo’s press conference announcing this new policy was a master class in leveling with the public, and it put Cuomo at the head of a group of governors—including Gavin Newsom of California,Andy Beshear of Kentucky, and Jay Inslee of Washington—who have grasped the enormity of what’s happening to their people. At the same time, Cuomo is clearly pleading for the federal government for help, begging the administration* to do its damn job so he can do his.

For years, Cuomo has looked like everything that was wrong with the Democratic party. He leaned toward the money power and he arranged the New York legislature in a way that empowered Republicans against the more progressive elements of his own party. It made any plans he had for running for president dead on arrival every four years. But over the past months, and especially in his press conferences, Cuomo has demonstrated a knack for the kind of leadership that rallies people rather than frightens them, and that has not relied upon the fouler elements of American politics to get the job done. He has become someone upon whom everyone can rely.

These are strange times, indeed.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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