Cuomo Echoes Clinton In Proxy 2020 Campaign Announcement

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s presidential level ambition has been on display for years. Now a recent push by the governor to pass a college tuition plan similar to Clinton and Sanders’ plan has many in New York speculating that it was a “2020 presidential campaign announcement.”

With Hillary Clinton in attendance, Cuomo’s focus at the event announcing the passage of his plan was clearly “national” in focus.

“Cuomo has said he is focused on the next governor’s race in 2018, but a national outlook keeps creeping into his messaging. On Wednesday, for example, he presented the college tuition plan as a model for the nation and offered a little national economic policy: an educated workforce would make America competitive ‘all across this globe.'”

Additionally, Cuomo also “exaggerated” the impact of his plan, given the “limited number of students” Cuomo’s college plan will help:

“The rhetoric and the hullabaloo about the Excelsior Program, perhaps a notch in a potential Cuomo campaign belt, are a little exaggerated. Critics point to the need for education investment in other parts of the university system and note the limited number of students Cuomo’s intervention will reach.”

Cuomo is positioning himself as a Clintonian Democrat, “a progressive who makes progress.” Unfortunately for Cuomo, he also has the ethical baggage of Clinton, meaning any national campaign will be about as successful.