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"FacebookPinterest\n\nBefore there was \"marriage equality\" in New York (he doesn't call it gay marriage), before there was the 71 percent approval rating for the governor who made it happen (71 percent!\u2014in a state where nearly half the populace did not support the measure), before people started salivating about a presidential run in 2016 (Cuomo versus Christie in a Hudson River smackdown?), there was the mystery of Andrew Cuomo.\u00A0\n\nWas it possible that the guy whom the New York press once dubbed \"the Prince of Darkness\" and, when they were not being kind, \"Darth Vader,\" Mario's firstborn son, who had his political obituary written a decade ago when he botched his first try for the governor's mansion, then skulked away to a real-estate-investment job with his tail between his legs, only to be further humiliated, the worst thing for an Italian, when his marriage to a Kennedy blew up in the tabloids amidst rumors of her screwing around on him with some polo-playing restaurant dude (on the ick scale, this was hard to top), who himself never believed he could ever even think of running again... Was it possible that this Andrew Cuomo would emerge as the most admired political figure in the country?\u00A0\n\nIt's been a good year for Andrew Cuomo.\u00A0\n\n\"It'll change,\" he says, laughing.\u00A0\n\nYes, Andrew Cuomo is laughing. Which is also new.\u00A0\n\nSo let us recklessly suggest that either Andrew Cuomo has had the most impressive human growth spurt in politics, or nothing has ever been the way it appeared to be with Andrew Cuomo. Otherwise, he wouldn't be where he is now, which is, in this order: effective, popular, and sane. (And currently soaking up some holiday love from middle-class New Yorkers elated over the middle-class tax cut he pushed through in early December.) And then there's that \"Cuomo in 2016\" chatter. He must feel pretty flattered, no? \n\n\"No. Well, look, is it flattering? It's flattering on one level. If you take it seriously. You know?\" We're having coffee and cookies on china and crystal in a stunningly ornate dining room in the governor's mansion that his mother, Matilda, restored thirty years ago. \"It's partially, ahhh, it's a function of the position. I'm governor of New York. It comes with the job, if you will. To a large degree. Ahh, and so, what does it really mean anyway?\"\n\nI don't remember a burning movement for Pataki, but okay.\n\n\"But what does it really mean?\" he booms in that excellent baritone that is part Queens, part Sicily. He sounds exactly like his father.\u00A0\n\n\u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\nGQ: You took office less than a year ago and proceeded to do something unusual in Albany: make good on your campaign promises. A lot of that was being organized and disciplined, but I also wonder how much of it, too, was\u2014well, the last few administrations were such a letdown, all the crazy scandals. Spitzer, Paterson.\u00A0\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Oh, there's no doubt that people had enough of the failure. I mean, people had really had enough\u2014of the scandals, of the embarrassment, right? Of the dysfunction. Of the shame. New York State government. They're New Yorkers! They think they're the best and this is the best and everything's the best! And here they're being ridiculed on Letterman. So that was all a part of it. I really believe it was right person, right time, right message.\n\nGQ: But what was it that allowed you to work across the aisle? What made it go so much more smoothly than before?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: You know, Lisa, I think part of it is circumstantial. Part of it is personal. Part of it is purely that the other side wanted to do it. First, the budget worked. The budget comes up first\u2014this was February. After the budget, you go through what's called the legislative session, which is passing the normal bills. That worked. So now you had a sense of momentum. And the body politic was enjoying the success. And then we did marriage equality last, which was the hardest of the session issues. But I think at that point there was a lot of energy, a lot of momentum. People\u2014the legislature\u2014liked getting things done.\n\n \"People had enough of the failure. People had really had enough\u2014of the scandals, of the embarrassment, right? Of the dysfunction. Of the shame.\"\n\nGQ: Why didn't they get things done before?\u00A0\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Eh, I don't know. They'll say because nobody tried to do it with them. They'll say they were always a willing partner; nobody had reached out. You can have a whole argument about that. But that's what they will say.\u00A0\n\nGQ: So you tried to be inclusive.\u00A0\n\n Andrew Cuomo: As my Sicilian grandfather used to say, you get more flies with honey than with vinegar, right? Especially in the art of politics. But in any, I would say, interpersonal relation, you first try.\n\nGQ: Let's go back to marriage equality. So the timing was good. You had the momentum. You just said, \"This has to be done\"?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Look, there are issues that come across your desk...that you just say, \"This is absurd.\" Marriage equality changed life for people. When we did the gay-pride parade after the passage? I can't tell you how many family members, friends, sisters, and brothers... It provided a level of acceptance for millions of people. And their families.\u00A0\n\nGQ: And you got the activists to work together\u2014\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Yeah. Because they were a fractured group. But I mean, you look at the injustice of the issue. [switches voices, mimicking the opposition] \"You can't get married if you're gay.\" Why? \"Well, because you're gay.\" And? \"And, well, you can't make babies.\" That's the argument. Oh, really? So then we should change the law to say, \"Only people who can and want to make babies can get married.\" So an infertile man can't. A woman who can't, she can't get married. People who don't want to make a baby, they can't get married. So let's change the law so it says, \"Only people who can and will make babies.\" \"Well, we don't want to do that. You can get married if you don't want to make a baby or if you can't\u2014except if you're gay!\" There's no logic.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\n Two campaigns, twenty-eight years apart: on election day\n\n2010 with girlfriend Sandra Lee and daughter Michaela...\n\nGQ: Was there anything about it that did hold you back? That gave you cause for pause?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: No. It is very unsettling to people, especially older people. This is very different. It is jarringly different. And I understand that. By the way, that's to be respected also. I don't think it's enough of a reason. But it's an issue to be respected.\n\nGQ: Your just-passed tax cut capped your remarkable year. [New York households earning $40,000 to $300,000 will save about $300 to $400 a year in income tas.] Explain why the middle class needs it so bad.\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Well, if you're trying to stimulate the economy, almost everyone agrees \u2014both sides, from President Reagan to President Obama\u2014that a tax cut can stimulate the private-sector economy, especially a tax cut for the middle class, because when you put money in the hands of the middle class, they spend it. You know, you cut tas for the rich sometimes and it sits in a bank account. You cut tas for the middle class, they will spend the money. Especially at Christmastime.\n\nGQ: Does it kick in right away?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: It's January 1, but I think from a psychological point of view, people know they're gonna get a tax cut, they feel a little better, confidence goes up, consumer confidence goes up. And I think it has an impact.\n\nGQ: Why can't it be done nationally?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: It's what they're trying to do nationally. You know, a lot of the points we have here are the same points that they're discussing nationally.\n\nGQ: The tabloids used to call you the Prince of Darkness, Darth Vader... There's none of that now.\u00A0\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Except there was none of that ever. That was only in this town. You know, the disconnect between the lore... My father becomes governor, I come as his top assistant. You listen to the lore now, it would sound like I was his right-hand operative for years. I was here for nine months. That's it! I was the transition director.\u00A0\n\nGQ: One of the things I always feel when I read stories about you and your father, it's like everything's an opera.\u00A0\n\n Andrew Cuomo: It's father, it's son, it's Italian. They had to make it an opera. You know? They love to make it complicated. It was never complicated to me.\u00A0\n\nGQ: What was it then?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: As a father or son, you can't have a better affirmation of the relationship than a son who says, \"I will drop everything and go work for you, Pop.\" And you can't have a better affirmation than a father who says to a 23-year-old, \"Even though you're only 23, I trust you with my political life.\"\n\nGQ: When your father was governor, even people who disagreed with his decisions knew he was a good man. Do you think that there was a subconscious\u2014\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Well, part of it is. His legacy, in my opinion? Integrity. I would run into people all over who'd say, \"You know, your father? I didn't agree with him.\" Death penalty they remember. Tas. They believe he raised tas, which is not actually true, but they believe that. And they'll say, \"I didn't agree with him, but I respected him.\" Integrity. There was a long time that he was governor and there was no scandal.\n\nThere were no Client 9's.\u00A0\n\n Andrew Cuomo: That's right. And I had been AG for four years, and you had that same basic\n\n sense about me. So that was no doubt a positive for me.\u00A0\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\n ...and with his old man (and boss) back in '82.\n\nGQ: Do you in some ways see gay marriage as similar to your dad's anti-death-penalty cause?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: I said that at an event recently. He was there, and I said, \"This is a continuation of a legacy that I learned from Mario Cuomo as a progressive pioneer. And it's his fight on the death penalty, his fight on a woman's right to choose, that he paid a tremendous price for, [such as] opposition by the Catholic Church and a lot of church groups.\" There's a straight line that connects those issues. You can connect death penalty to the choice issue to marriage equality. \n\nGQ: When it was passed, did you hear from the president?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: On that? No. I talk to him occasionally.  I'm sure we talked about it.\n\nDo you think he's really ambivalent, or do you think he\u2014\n\n Andrew Cuomo: I don't know. You know, he's dealing with his own situation, his own politics. Also, remember, the politics in New York are different than the politics nationwide.\n\nGQ: So when you talk to Obama, what do you talk about?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Well, we talk about a whole number of issues. You know, I'm supportive, I do fund-raisers for him. Uh...I speak to him on the telephone, we talk about economic issues, whatever it is. [delivered in a not very enthusiastic voice]\n\nDo you wish Hillary won?\u00A0\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Whether Hillary will run?\n\nWhether you wish Hillary won.\u00A0\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Oh, won. I supported Hillary.\n\nGQ: I know.\n\n Andrew Cuomo: But, uh, you know, he won. Look, once he's the guy, he's the guy, and that's it, and you move forward. And I've been as supportive as I can be, and I will continue to be as supportive as I can be.\n\nGQ: Your mentors have been Mario Cuomo and Bill Clinton. What did Clinton teach you that your dad didn't?\u00A0\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Oh, they are tremendously different personalities. On a number of levels.\u00A0\n\nGQ: Is your political model more Clintonesque at this point, just because of the way the world is?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: No, I don't think so. You know, you have something called genetics that plays in here. I think naturally my orientation is from my father. Same socialization, same genes, same positions, same state. But I learned a lot during the Clinton administration. First, just in terms of governance and how to get things done. Getting bills passed in the Congress. Walking across that aisle\u2014which is a much broader aisle and a much deeper chasm. And I was getting bills passed for HUD, and HUD was not a popular place. So that whole experience was invaluable. Politics are much more intense federally. The stakes are much higher. The ball comes much faster.\n\nGQ: When Clinton first named you [as assistant secretary, then secretary, of HUD], did you know him well?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: No.\u00A0\n\nGQ: That's interesting, because he and your dad had quite a feud.\n\n Andrew Cuomo: But that's one of the lessons of Clinton. I was running the largest homeless organization in the nation at that time, when Clinton named me. I had been invited to the transition because of my expertise in the field of homelessness and low-income housing. His invitation was just on the substance of it, and in some ways regardless of the politics. And that is something that I try to purposefully incorporate. I don't care if you were with me or against me in the campaign, I really don't care. If you are good and you are of value to this administration, then great.\u00A0\n\nGQ: What do you think about the big guy across the river, Governor Christie?\u00A0\n\n Andrew Cuomo: I think he's done well. I think he handled this situation well, the national situation well. [Days before, after months of speculation, Christie announced he would not run for president in 2012.] I think in his party he is a very valuable commodity.\u00A0[The governor's brother, ABC newsman Chris Cuomo, will later tell me that Andrew berated him about the media's obsession with Christie's weight. \"SO WHAT?\" Andrew thundered. \"Why don't you tell your friends in the New York media to get the hell out of New York and go into the rest of the country, go upstate, move around where everybody's not spending sixteen hours a day in the gym, and take a look at what people look like\u2014people with real lives and jobs.\"]\u00A0\n\nSo Cuomo versus Christie in '16?\u00A0\n\n Andrew Cuomo: [He ignores that.] I have a good working relationship with him. I want a good working relationship with him. We do a  lot together. \u00A0\n\nGQ: So you work with him, talk to him\u2014\n\n Andrew Cuomo: For me to do my job well, I have to. I'm sure we'll have our differences, but the trick is to have a good enough relationship that you can handle the difference, right?\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\n A victory lap at Gay Pride, June 2011.\n\nGQ: Go back to the perception of you ten years ago. How have you changed since '02?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Well, first\u2014 [sort of a moan]\n\nGQ: It's a lot, I know.\n\n Andrew Cuomo: The narrative was: Cuomo comes back from Washington, youngest cabinet secretary, was on the short list for vice president\u2014\n\nGQ: You were?\u00A0\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Yeah. [For Gore.] Married to a Kennedy. And he comes into New York and presumes that he can run for governor ahead of Carl McCall, first African-American, paid his dues. And this was an arrogant gesture.\u00A0\n\nGQ: That's where the arrogance thing started?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: It appeared arrogant. You come from Washington and you're gonna come back and just run for governor? Meanwhile, you haven't been here.\n\nGQ: And the dynastic thing.\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Yes! Because your father was governor? And you're gonna run against the first African-American? Who was comptroller? And now has a shot at running for governor? And you're gonna compete with him? And you're married to a Kennedy? It looks arrogant.\u00A0\n\nGQ: So that's where it starts.\n\n Andrew Cuomo: And then 9/11 happens. And people want security, they want stability. And I'm a harsh critic of the status quo. Then I make a very unfortunate comment. Which plays into the arrogance. [He said there was \"one leader\" after September 11\u2014Mayor Giuliani\u2014and that the moment \"defined George Pataki as not being the leader. He stood behind the leader. He held the leader's coat.\" Even Giuliani slapped Cuomo for it.]\n\n \" It's father, it's son, it's Italian. They had to make it an opera. You know? They love to make it complicated. It was never complicated to me.\"\n\nSo you make the coat comment...and that's it for your campaign?\u00A0\n\n Andrew Cuomo: That's it.\u00A0\n\nGQ: How hard did you take it?\u00A0\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Losing? It's not fun, losing. And then I get divorced. It was not a good period. \n\nGQ: And I would imagine you never thought you would be divorced.\n\n Andrew Cuomo: I never thought I would be divorced. Losing was one thing. You have to sort of be prepared for it on one level. And I had seen my father lose a few times. But it was a bad combination. I never thought of... Yeah, the divorce was, uh, nothing I had contemplated. And it was, you know\u2014divorce with children is very, very difficult.\u00A0\n\nGQ: And so publicly.\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Yeah, and the public part, too. But they say that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?\u00A0\n\nGQ: That's what they say.\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Exactly. That's what they say.\n\nGQ: And were there moments when you thought, I'm gonna do something entirely different? I'm never gonna run again?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Oh yeah. I didn't think I'd be able to run again. A couple of years went by before I thought about running for attorney general.\n\nGQ: What started to turn it around?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Eliot Spitzer was attorney general, he was gonna run for governor. So then the question was, could I run for attorney general? Mark Green was running, and he had just almost won the New York City mayoral election. So he was formidable. And I was, let's just say, not. [laughs hard]\u00A0\n\nGQ: And yet you ended up becoming AG.\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Yeah, but it was a very tough race. And then slowly I built back.\u00A0\n\nGQ: This is gonna sound crazy, but are you happier today?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Than when? Than yesterday?\u00A0\n\nGQ: Yeah. [laughs]__\n\n Yes. But yesterday was a bad day. [smiles] I am... No, I am fundamentally happy. And I am fundamentally at peace. You know, happy. What is happy? I don't think that you can really be happy with the current state of affairs [the economy].\u00A0\n\nGQ: Well, I mean compared to before the loss and the divorce.\u00A0\n\n Andrew Cuomo: You start to feel like what your parents used to say, right? You get the fundamentals established. The kids are healthy, I'm in a good place with them, they are beautiful, and they are doing well. My friends and family that matter? Those relationships that were there the morning after? And will be there the morning after again? I'm blessed with that. It's all good. It is all good.\u00A0\n\nGQ: And I didn't mean to save Sandra for last. [Sandra is Sandra Lee, the Food Network personality and Cuomo's girlfriend.] Do you call her Sandy or Sandra?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Sandy. She is\u2014okay, we keep the private relationship private, but I'll tell you this, she has been extraordinary in my life. She is clearly, when you meet her, an amazing person. I mean, just the energy she gives off. She really is something special. Has nothing to do with politics. I met her during the period when I had nothing to do with politics. I was trying to figure out how to handle three young girls. And girls' dress sizes and shoe sizes and why they're so different from... There's no logical sense. [smiles] And she has been phenomenal with me. And the girls. The girls love her. And it's refreshing that, you know, when I go home, the conversation is totally different. And that's actually been healthy, because this can become obsessively consuming.\u00A0\n\nGQ: Did she teach you how to make spaghetti sauce \"semi-homemade\"?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: I make my own sauce my own way. She can make her sauce.\u00A0\n\nGQ: Okay, you just have to make one promise. If you do run for president, don't drag it out like your father did. That was torture.\n\n Andrew Cuomo: I get that! [laughing] I saw that movie.\u00A0\n\nGQ: What was that like for you?\n\n Andrew Cuomo: You know, it was... He was very open? You could say too open. He was going to share his decision-making process with you. \u00A0\n\nGQ: And he was really torn!\n\n Andrew Cuomo: He was really torn. And you know what? That's okay, to be torn. It's a big decision. It's okay to be torn. But he shared it. It was his charm, also. He told you exactly, and he would argue both sides for you!\n\nGQ: It was a wonderful daily cliff-hanger.\u00A0\n\n Andrew Cuomo: Yes.\u00A0\n\nGQ: But it was also like\u2014\n\n Andrew Cuomo: I know. But enough. Enough. I know.\u00A0\n\nGQ: It's funny, when I close my eyes, I hear him in you. But does it drive you crazy? You'll always be compared to the Great Orator.\n\n Andrew Cuomo: It doesn't really. [smiles] Maybe at one time it intimidated me? But it doesn't anymore. I'm old now, you know.\n\nLisa DePaulo is a GQ_ correspondent.\u00A0\n\n _"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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