Gov. Andrew Cuomo talks like President wanna-be

Gov. Andrew Cuomo talks like President wanna-be

Rosier/News

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's State of the State speech was packed with impressive -- and expensive -- proposals.  

ALBANY â€" After two years in office, Gov. Cuomo channeled his inner Mario.

His State of the State speech Wednesday was packed with ambitious proposals that are bold, liberal and costly.

In short, it’s the kind of speech that echoes those of his father, former three-term Gov. Mario Cuomo. It also was a speech that many saw as reaching beyond New York.

Mario Cuomo famously flirted with the presidency for years, but never ran.

Now his son has landed on the list of possible White House hopefuls in 2016.

Andrew Cuomo has been pilloried by liberal bloggers in recent months, but he used his third annual address to tack left and burnish his progressive street cred â€" something he would need to win a Democratic nomination for President.

“It sounded like a national presidential address to me,” said Sen. John Bonacic (R-Orange County).

There was a focus on red-meat issues for the left â€" gun control, equity for women and raising the minimum wage.

He renewed his call for a stronger abortion-rights law and decriminalizing small amounts of pot.

Many Republicans and even some Democrats shook their heads at his big-ticket proposals.

There was a costly plan for green businesses, $ 1 billion for affordable housing, and a push to let school districts extend their school days and school years.

How Cuomo would pay for his agenda was unclear; aides promised an answer in his upcoming budget plan.

“I can’t even fathom how much all this adds up to,” Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) groused.

Cuomo aides denied he has one eye on a presidential run.

They said the liberal issues are what’s left of an agenda Cuomo proposed when he won office in 2010 but couldn’t get through the GOP-controlled Senate.

Still, “there’s no doubt people on the left will have much less to complain about and if he gets most of it accomplished, he’ll go down among the greatest governors in New York,” said Democratic operative Hank Sheinkopf.

That’s surely a credential that would come in handy if and when Cuomo runs for the White House.