Metro

Cuomo is New York’s undercover governor

Did you see what Gov. Cuomo did? Did you hear what he said?

Of course, you didn’t. Nobody did.

That’s the plan — to be the stealth governor. It’s a strange strategy, but so far, it’s working.

The report that he was a no-show for President Obama’s fund-raiser in Manhattan illustrates how much Cuomo is determined to stay out of the spotlight. He was listed on the invitation as a co-sponsor, but skipped it to stay in Albany.

If it’s true he was too busy working, good for New York. Even better if Cuomo skipped the event because he didn’t want to pollute his bid to fix Albany by being at a partisan fest where Obama was sure to bash Republicans.

The gov’s non-appearance, the third time he’s ducked an Obama fund-raising visit to Gotham, is consistent with how he has governed. He aims to keep a profile that is just above invisible and let his policies do the talking. He saves his own face time for crunch time.

A big reason is that his centrist course opens potential pitfalls with his party’s liberal base. As a candidate, most of his ads never mentioned he is a Democrat. Most of his belt-tightening proposals since taking office were more readily adopted by the GOP-controlled state Senate than by Dems running the Assembly.

More broadly, Cuomo is determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past, including his and his father’s.

Chief among those is that contentious issues tend to get personalized, to the detriment of merit. Too many legislators and advocacy groups take sides in ways that have nothing to do with the issues and everything to do with whether they like and trust the governor. The last four years were especially instructive.

Eliot Spitzer became impossibly toxic long before he got “hooked.” His contempt for anybody who challenged him made it only a matter of time before he was flying solo.

It’s still an article of faith in some circles that he could have survived the prostitution case if he had a few trusted wingmen in the capital. But he had burned bridges in so many petty fights that he had no allies for the one life-or-death battle he faced. He had to resign because not a single Democrat would rise to defend him.

David Paterson offers another lesson. He started out with a deep well of good will, his friendly, open manner a welcome change from Spitzer. But Paterson soon proved himself unreliable, changing his mind and his story so frequently that his word was considered worthless. That was a death knell for his tenure and career.

Those matters may sound superficial, but this is office politics, Albany style, and it carries a disproportionate impact on results. Until now, Cuomo’s moved the ball forward by staying focused on a few issues and making himself a smaller target. He can be abrasive, and some in his coalition, especially in the Assembly, are waiting for an excuse to break with him. So far, he hasn’t given them one.

The real test remains whether he can keep the public engaged as he chops away the dead wood and corruption. His approval ratings stayed high through the budget, though the Medicaid and education cuts haven’t hit yet. He’s also made a good move on the nuts and bolts, with his efficiency commission revealing a mishmash of waste on things like empty office space that costs millions in rent.

It’s a start, and if it keeps working, Cuomo might be forging a new model for politicians. One where they work more and talk less. Yes to that.

Bloomberg gives away the store to bad teachers

The Post had a riveting series of articles on city teachers who should have been bounced but stayed on the payroll because the disciplinary process is too convoluted or because the educrats in charge simply didn’t do their jobs. The result is that some teachers who couldn’t meet the minimum standards were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars not to teach.

The gut reaction is to blame the union for protecting the louts at the expense of taxpayers and students by exploiting every loophole in the contract.

Fair enough, but there’s another angle to keep in mind, too. Ironically, it is best expressed by something Mayor Bloomberg told me in a February interview.

“If you were a union member, you would want a union leader to try to get the most money, best working conditions, shorter hours, and that’s what you hire a person for,” he said. “But the public hires government to say no and to do a more rational thing . . . and not give away the store.”

Apply those words to The Post’s revelations, and you have a guilty plea from Hizzoner. So we the people should aim our biggest gripes at him because we hired him — three times — to watch the store. But he gave teachers raises of 43 percent and signed those contracts with all those destructive and expensive loopholes. It’s his job to fix the mess.

Certified: the death of the birthers

Good God, free at last. The birther issue is dead.

Donald Trump didn’t set out to do the country any favors, but he has anyway. By forcing President Obama to release the birth certificate, Trump got the boil lanced. It was probably the high-water mark of his campaign, but that’s another story.

While some Americans buy the notion that Obama is not eligible to be president, for many more it was becoming a proxy issue for things about the president they don’t like or trust.

Ranging from his determination to “spread the wealth around” to his apology tours abroad to the explosion of Washington spending, Obama’s unorthodox and disappointing presidency has created growing doubts about who he is and what he stands for, including among millions who voted for him.

Consider the Pew Research poll last year that found, as his job approval sank, more and more people expressed uncertainty about his religion. And not just whites and Republicans. Among blacks, only 43 percent were sure he is a Christian, a decline of 13 points, while 46 percent said they weren’t sure, an increase of 10 points. More than one in five whites believe he is a Muslim, also a big increase.

The birther movement played on and reflected those doubts.

Now that it is dead and buried, America can, as Obama said, focus on the big things. Such as whether, based on his record, he deserves a second term.

Paid naps? Dream on

After a bunch of air-traffic controllers were caught sleeping on the job, their union demanded nap times. Happily, common sense prevailed.

“On my watch, controllers will not be paid to take naps,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood declared.

There is hope for America after all.