For Cuomo, Financial Crisis Is His Political Moment

Andrew M. Cuomo, whose love of analogies is great, often likens his investigations to a fine opera.

The opening act, he instructs his lieutenants at the New York State attorney general’s office, is taken up with his investigation and rivets the audience’s attention. The middle acts are sung by tenors from executive suites, who agree to change their misbegotten ways.

The final act, in his rendition, is played by Congress or the State Legislature, which enacts new laws and systemic reform.

Mr. Cuomo, a double-espresso of a politician and an oh-so-careful guardian of his own media image, now has found his moment like few politicians in the United States. For months he has given voice to disgust with the abuses and self-regard within the nation’s financial industry. He has forced the three largest rating agencies to the bargaining table, persuaded mortgage lenders to agree to rework their appraisals and sought to force down the cost of student loans by shaming universities and lenders.

Mr. Cuomo’s use of his office, its powers and its bully pulpit, is muscular. He has sent his subpoenas to those in plush offices, and dragged out the names of bonus recipients from American International Group and Merrill Lynch, to loud applause from many voters.

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