The #PresidentCuomo fantasy

That's the title of a nice article by Byron York, today, in which he explains why the boomlet in Candidate Cuomo speculation--to replace Clueless Joe--is almost certainly pure fantasy. The notion that the ueber-wealthy proprietors of the Dem Party--having pushed a madman to the side in favor of a candidate who is very obviously in the early stages of dementia--can now pull a switcheroo is a bridge too far in American politics. The Dems are well and truly stuck with Biden.

York organizes the fairly obvious reasons behind this with a bit of flair. It all started with Cuomo's newfound national prominence, thanks to Covid19--a deadly disease that could be used as a metaphor for Liberalism, just as Biden's dementia is a metaphor for the Dem party:

It did not take long for the hashtag #PresidentCuomo to appear on Twitter. And from there came the dream that perhaps Cuomo might somehow become the Democratic standard-bearer. 

... 

But how? ... 

At this point, does someone — Party elders? The chairman of the Democratic National Committee? — tell the 10,118,114 people who voted for Biden: "Never mind. Governor Cuomo will be your candidate now." Or does someone tell the 7,665,794 who voted for Sanders: "Sorry, Biden won't be the candidate, but neither will the second-place finisher." 

Remember the big deal some Democratic leaders and commentators made of the fact that the party's African American voters had chosen Biden? Would that be thrown out, too?

To attempt to toss both candidates at the convention and draft a third would involve changing all the rules and returning to the politics of the smokefilled rooms and party bosses. Well, nowadays that would be more like Wall St. grandees. That would be a formula that would embitter both the Biden and Sanders factions. As it is, the Sanders faction will likely be totally embittered anyway.

In a new Washington Post-ABC poll, 86% of the people who say they plan to vote for Trump say they are enthusiastic about doing so. Just 74% of Biden supporters say the same thing. The poll also found that 15% of those Democrats who currently prefer Sanders would vote for Trump, not Biden, in the general election. 

"They're a fractured party," one Trump campaign official said in a text exchange Sunday. "Cuomo coming in as the 'savior' would be viewed with hostility by the Bernie people. Double slap in the face." 

Cuomo ... has a style and personality — largely unseen in the virus coverage — that can be difficult, to say the least. Last year, his job approval rating among New Yorkers fell into the 30s. There is no guarantee or even indication that he would wear well on American voters. 

... 

... But for now, as long as Biden remains able to run, Democrats seem to be on an unalterable path to nominating him. 

Some are doing so with extraordinarily low expectations. Recently, the Atlantic published an article headlined "Stay Alive, Joe Biden" that argued, "Democrats need little from the front-runner beyond his corporeal presence." But in any event, Biden is their man, no matter how much they might wish for a savior named Andrew Cuomo.

That last bit! That is truly delusional--just what you'd expect from today's Dems.