Three progressive thoughts on the death of Mario Cuomo.

The essayist Schlesinger describes Mario Cuomo's first campaign for governor of New York.

(Cuomo) stood out as the authentic liberal in the contest—a “pragmatic progressive” as he called himself.

Indeed. Following are three remembrances of Mario Cuomo, beginning with a former aide's thoughts.

Mario Cuomo: A Tribute to the Man, the Governor, the Writer, by Stephen Schlesinger (New York Observer)

... He will long be remembered for his eloquence, his San Francisco address, his electric presence, his humor and his warmth, his progressive ideals, his intellectual heft, his concerns for the disenfranchised, his toughness, his pride in his Italian heritage. His legacy includes his opposition to the death penalty and his willingness to take on the Catholic Church over the issue of abortion–and, as well, a future governor. He left his state in a better place than it had been. He was the man who should have been president, the man who might have been on the Supreme Court, but all he ever truly wanted to be was the governor of New York State.

Consider the present dearth of "public thinking," a deficiency not restricted to one side of the two-party aisle.

Mario Cuomo, A Thinker in Public, by James Fallows (Atlantic)

... Among politicians of the past generation-plus seen as national-level contenders, he was the most accomplished and engrossing public thinker. (This is also Obama's strength, and presumably he will overtake Cuomo through the scale of the issues he has been involved in.) Most public officials know, or fear, that they need to buff away the complicated or challenging parts of their views before presenting them in public. That's assuming they ever had, or kept, such thoughts. Mario Cuomo was notable in trying always to talk up to his audience, not down. You see that especially in his Notre Dame speech. It's an example worth reflecting upon.

Finally, Charlie Pierce brings it full circle.

Mario Cuomo, RIP, by Charles P. Pierce (Esquire)

... Now Mario Cuomo is dead, and his absence from our national discussion is being used in some quarters as a cautionary tale to the rising progressive movement within the Democratic party. The same forces that worked to marginalize him will be brought to bear at some point against Elizabeth Warren.