In a televised response to the New York State Attorney General’s conclusion that he harassed numerous female coworkers during his tenure as Governor, Andrew Cuomo claims he’s just naturally affectionate, that hugging and kissing are behaviors he learned from his Italian parents. “I do it with everyone,” he adds, conveniently ignoring further allegations of groping and inappropriate comments. “I am the same person in public as I am in private.”
To find out whether or not he’s telling the truth, I went sleuthing online for his signature in conjunction with his regular handwriting. If you read yesterday’s blogpost, you’ll recall that signatures are the outward sign of how a writer wants to be perceived. They may or may not jive with the rest of the writing, which reflects the person’s true character. There’s not much of his writing out there, but this brief salutation and short note [second item on the page] both indicate a match; he is indeed a forthright person.
What I find most interesting about Cuomo’s signature, however, is the half-bowtie formation at the top of his capital C. Graphologists call this a stinger, and it appears in the script of those who embrace a challenge. Cuomo’s is so large it looks like a capital A. Of course, a politician must embrace challenge in order to succeed in the public arena, but might such a risk-taker also enjoy the thrill of bending the rules of decorum in the guise of social cluelessness?