President Obama's request turns Gov. Paterson into lame duck

[Midnight Mike]

21-September-2009

Gov. Paterson is a dead man walking.

The governor may insist he intends to buck the White House and run in 2010, but President Obama has fixed it so Paterson is the lamest of lame ducks and virtually unable to accomplish anything that might resurrect his poll numbers.

In doing so, the Obama administration has done the seemingly impossible by making Albany even more dysfunctional than it already was - at least in the short term.

"We're going to have to go back for a special session sometime this fall, and this is going to be a cloud over the governor's head. It could be problematic," said state Sen. Jose Serrano, a Bronx Democrat.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/09 ... worse.html (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/09/21/2009-09-21_bam_makes_a_bad_state_of_affairs_worse.html)

[Matt Molnar]

At Obama's speech in Albany this afternoon, he introduced Paterson simply as an "honorable man." Then, with a big smile on his face, Obama went on to introduce Andrew Cuomo, who he described as "a man who is doing great things for the people of the state of New York." Yep, Obama essentially just told Paterson to go home and get his shinebox, this time in public.

Don't understand why Obama is meddling in this...Paterson doesn't stand a chance of winning the primary.

[mirrodie]

Obama has MUCH bigger fish to fry. Get him back to work.

[NIKV69]

but President Obama has fixed it so Paterson is the lamest of lame ducks and virtually unable to accomplish anything that might resurrect his poll numbers.

What? How? Do you think Obama asking him not to run had any impact on the result of the election? Actually it has been the only show of balls from Paterson since he took office. I am mglad he told Obama to go screw.


At Obama's speech in Albany this afternoon, he introduced Paterson simply as an "honorable man." Then, with a big smile on his face, Obama went on to introduce Andrew Cuomo, who he described as "a man who is doing great things for the people of the state of New York." Yep, Obama essentially just told Paterson to go home and get his shinebox, this time in public.



What Obama did was totally disgusting and disrespectful and all it really accomplished was showing the entire country how scared the DNC is of Rudy. Another power grab gone wrong by the Obama administration.


Don't understand why Obama is meddling in this...Paterson doesn't stand a chance of winning the primary.







Reason is simple, Paterson running and defying Obama will cause a huge PR nightmare not to mention Paterson will play the race card again and it will degenerate into a circus. All of this hurts Cuomo's chances and the DNC can't afford to lose this race. If Rudy wins and starts to kick major ass his stock will rise and since Obama is already killing his re-election chances in 2012 he doesn't need Rudy mounting another charge.

[Matt Molnar]

Epic fail if that's the reason.

They have only slightly more to fear in Rudy than they did in John Faso. Anyone remember him? Spitzer beat him by 40 percentage points.

Two words: Bernie Kerik. Rudy is done. 10 years ago I would have loved to have seen Gov. Rudy, but after 9/11 he lost his mind. He he has no chance of winning the governor's race unless someone finds dead hookers in Paterson's and Cuomo's closets. His presidential run was embarrassing. The NY State GOP has been in shambles for years. Obama has a couple of opponents to fear in 2012, but Rudy is not one of them.

[NIKV69]

but after 9/11 he lost his mind.

Actually many in the state of NY felt he showed great leadership. Not sure what you mean he lost his mind. Any examples?


He he has no chance of winning the governor's race unless someone finds dead hookers in Paterson's and Cuomo's closets

Think your being naive here. Rudy trounces Paterson and gives Cuomo a war. Don't forget Rudy has many fans in the state of NY and this isn't a presidential election where the electorate is basically liberal NYC. The whole state gets to vote and they are many right leaning people who are sick of the Dems running of the state.


The NY State GOP has been in shambles for years

The Dems aren't?


Obama has a couple of opponents to fear in 2012, but Rudy is not one of them.






Very premature at this point. If Obama continues along the path he has been on with the war on terror and we get even the slightest terrorist attack he is done. If Rudy runs and actually conducts a decent campaign he walks in by a landslide. Like I said Matt Obama crossed a line and tried to use his power grab on Paterson for a reason by doing something basically unprecedented by not only asking him to bow out of the race but also by treating him like crap in his own town in front of everyone. They are scared.

[Matt Molnar]

Actually many in the state of NY felt he showed great leadership. Not sure what you mean he lost his mind. Any examples?
Immediately following 9/11 he was a fantastic leader. After he left office and couldn't complete a sentence without mentioning 9/11, most people, including myself, grew tired of him.


Think your being naive here. Rudy trounces Paterson and gives Cuomo a war. Don't forget Rudy has many fans in the state of NY and this isn't a presidential election where the electorate is basically liberal NYC. The whole state gets to vote and they are many right leaning people who are sick of the Dems running of the state.
Obama or no Obama, Cuomo will trounce Paterson in the primary and there won't be any opportunity for Rudy to face Paterson.


The Dems aren't?
They are, but owning the state's population centers makes up for that.


Very premature at this point. If Obama continues along the path he has been on with the war on terror and we get even the slightest terrorist attack he is done. If Rudy runs and actually conducts a decent campaign he walks in by a landslide. Like I said Matt Obama crossed a line and tried to use his power grab on Paterson for a reason by doing something basically unprecedented by not only asking him to bow out of the race but also by treating him like crap in his own town in front of everyone. They are scared.
It is a long way away, but today I'd say Romney, Huckabee, Jindal and maybe even *gasp* Palin would finish ahead of Rudy.

[Matt Molnar]

Actually many in the state of NY felt he showed great leadership. Not sure what you mean he lost his mind. Any examples?
Immediately following 9/11 he was a fantastic leader. After he left office and couldn't complete a sentence without mentioning 9/11, most people, including myself, grew tired of him.
And that doesn't even account for the pending Bernard Kerik trial, which will likely get some dirt on his old boss.

[NIKV69]

After he left office and couldn't complete a sentence without mentioning 9/11, most people, including myself, grew tired of him.



That is basically a CNN talking point designed to discredit his presidential race chances. Didn't really have much basis in fact.




Obama or no Obama, Cuomo will trounce Paterson in the primary and there won't be any opportunity for Rudy to face Paterson

This was a given a long time ago. Which really underscores more Obama's blunder in doing what he did and then having Paterson defy him.


They are, but owning the state's population centers makes up for that.


Which really doesn't change anything if Rudy and Cuomo go at it in the governor's race.


Romney

Not a chance, he is against gay rights and is a Mormon. Both sink his chances bigtime.


Huckabee

Huh? Love the guy but he is way too far right. No chance.


Jindal

His stock was rising but after he gave that speech he came off as a boring, no charisma robot. Basically ending his chances.


Palin

If she would have stayed the course and continued as Governor of Alaska maybe but her surprise exit and subsequent media circus will probably render her useless. Not to say she could make some noise but I doubt it.

Rudy trounces all these candidates. If he get someone who can run a campaign. He is tough on crime and terrorism, doesn't want to tax us to death and supports immigration and gay rights and abortion. If he gets a head of steam he could pose a ton of trouble for Obama. Especially if Obama's pacification of our enemies results in another attack. Which judging by recent arrests and info obtained could be in the works.

[Tom_Turner]

I tend to agree Rudy only dropped the ball from a strategic point of view in his campaign. The repeating of the 911 mantra was a loser, and more importantly the sequence of the state primaries worked against him and likely remains a challenge again. If the strategists can figure something out, Rudy remains a potentially viable candidate.

AS for Obama intruding on NYS politics in this way, it is unprecedented. Has to be Rahm flexing his muscles here.

Apart from playing the race card, Patterson is not the problem for the Democrats, but a symptom. They managed to get a sociopath in Spitzer elected governor, who immediately self destructed, the legislature well beyond the pale and 100% responsible for the disaster in Albany, and the unions went after Patterson immediately when he actually did the right thing rather than cravenly cave in as Cuomo would be likely to do.

Tom