New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo today asked a perfectly relevant and pertinent question of Donald John Trump.

Why would the president decide to “federalize” the restarting of the nation’s economy if he was so unwilling to do so when it became imperative to impose restrictions that effectively shut the economy down?

Cuomo, a Democrat, posed the question today as Trump was musing out loud about the possibility of declaring the nation should be back in business by May 1. Cuomo noted that Trump wasn’t willing to issue a national declaration when the coronavirus pandemic was sweeping around the world; he chose to leave those matters to state and local officials.

In fact it should be noted that the president has no real authority to overrule governors’ decision on such matters. The U.S. Constitution — were Trump ever to take time to actually read the document he took an oath to defend — leaves plenty of power to states, counties and cities; those entities and the individuals who run them are empowered to issue declarations on whether they should reopen. The president in this instance is a bystander.

Yet the “wartime president” wants to issue a declaration all by himself, as if the governors who have issued stay at home orders or closed public schools and businesses are going to follow the president’s lead … no matter where it takes them.

Gov. Cuomo’s question is on target. If the president was so reluctant to take charge at the start of this crisis, what has emboldened him to exert power that he really doesn’t possess?

I think I know the answer: Because strutting and preening now  provides grist on which to campaign for re-election.