Context drives perception. And, in the words of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “there’s nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.”
The manipulative charm that enabled former President Franklin D. Roosevelt to prepare his frightened, ill-equipped countrymen for World War II and lead them through it also devastated his wife, Eleanor. The arrogant titling at windmills that made former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani look so petty in dealing with his wife, Donna Hanover, and the Rev. Al Sharpton seemed Churchillian on 9/11.
Some people are, in the words of former President Andrew Jackson, “born for the storm.” That they are just as good at securing the peace is less certain.
Which brings us to embattled New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who, like Giuliani, was there for his city, his state and his nation in a terrible moment — in this case, the pandemic — leading with folksy wisdom. Though my sister Gina has accused me of being a “Cuomo-sexual,” I’m afraid my Athena-like, warrior goddess persona has always made me admire men but “with a view” to quote the wise, dying heroine in the film version of Henry James’ “The Wings of the Dove.” To me the governor has always been like those fathers who in taking the kids on a less-than-stellar vacation says, “The motel may be second-rate and the beach rocky but this is our vacation and damn it, we’re going to enjoy it.”
Now a year later with vaccinations on the rise and the pandemic/lockdown end in sight, please God, the governor can’t muscle his way out of covering up the number of nursing home deaths during its height or his inappropriate behavior with women.
There is a pattern here. The men I mentioned have all been white and thus able to acquire power. Power is the key. Because power gives you access to many contexts. Power lets people say, “Who cared about Trump’s private life or his nasty treatment of others? We loved his tax cuts/picks for judges/championing of the working man/immigration policy.” Power gives white men — and the white women who derive status from them — options and everyone else few or none. So Republican-led state legislatures, having lost the big game in 2020, are now busy moving the goal posts so that it’s harder for people of color to vote in the next election, an outrage that must be stopped.
The Democratic-led New York state legislature, meanwhile, has now tied Cuomo’s hands when it comes to further pandemic decisions. I personally think the governor’s tough love saved New York and people like me but perhaps came at a cost of sending people who had the virus to — or back to — nursing homes to free up hospital beds. It’s what happened to my Uncle Johnny. His daughter , Michele, got him out of the nursing home, even though he was terribly weak in the virus’ aftermath. Her timely action no doubt saved his life though he is no longer the man he once was.
But everyone’s sunrise is someone else’s sunset, as I always say. Leaders pick and choose what to save and what will be cut as dead wood and that includes people. Those who denounce Cuomo should remember that we didn’t know what we were dealing with and he did what he thought he had to do at the time. Fudging the numbers and trying to use his power to force young women into dating him is, however, unacceptable. It may be time for him to go.
Context drives perception and context is always changing, reminding us that that was then. This is now.