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Paterson asked to leave race
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by smkovalinsky | September 20, 2009 at 07:18 am
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New York Governor David Paterson is being urged by chief Democrats to leave the gubernatorial race, in order not to jeopardize other democratic candidates in various government races:
President Obama is urging embattled New York Gov. David Paterson not to seek a full term, according to a published report Saturday.
Obama's action apparently was prompted by fears that the unpopular governor could prove a liability to other Democrats running for Congress or the state Legislature next fall, according to the New York Times.
The newspaper credited two senior administration officials and a New York Democratic operative for the information, but did not name them.
The Times said the president's request was passed on to Paterson by Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, a Democrat from Queens, who has a strong relationship with the governor.
Apparently, all things considered, this is a fairly extraordinary request, coming from Obama. From "Obama Gives Up on Paterson", in Time Magazine's political blog, "Swampland":
Has Obama asked beleaguered and unpopular NY Governor David Paterson to drop out of the race to keep his seat? That's what the New York Times is reporting. If true, this is fairly extraordinary. It's highly unusual for a president to step in and tell a governor who is not facing something like a crippling scandal or imminent indictment that his time is up. And when it's the first black president telling one of only two black governors to clear the way for someone else...that definitely falls into the category of Stories You Never Expected To Read.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 08:51 on September 20th, 2009
The White House now says it is not true. :) X 10.
at 13:40 on September 20th, 2009
Roy, it seems to be the case in reading President Obama tells Gov. Paterson not to run? WH tells Fox it's not true. However, in this article it states "We're confident he'll make the decision based on the best interests of the State."
For me, I find President Obama's relationship to New York State very unsettling!
at 14:11 on September 20th, 2009
And, stupid, to boot.
How else could this have looked but bad? What the hell kind of presumptuous idiot tells Paterson not to run and why?
I will tell you why. Because Paterson is an embarrassment to Obama, and a political liability as well.
As soon as Paterson played the race card, it was over for him. All those New York staters who don't like Paterson's incompetence are now racists, same argument used here to "debate" Obama, the man, instead of Obama, his policies.
That parallell argument, made by Maureen Dowd, makes Obama's supporters look racist, as in, "he's white and against Obama, therefore he is a racist".
Obama doesn't have the guts to call off these charges. His protests so far have been weak, though he has specifically said that racism is not the primary cause of the protests.
Why no guts? I don't think Obama has ever had to have guts. His establishment is the anti-establishment of America, so, he looks "radical", but I remember something I learned about "radicals" in the late sixties and seventies.
I used to wonder where Country Joe McDonald got the guts to just say what he said, so anti-establishment, so forcefully.
Then I learned how many radicals, such as Country Joe, are the sons and daughters of radicals and grew up hearing and spouting back radicalism.
That is your Obama. Bred into radicalism since high school. Not his family. His spiritual family in Hawaiil, the mentors he sought out, and, from there, his whole life at college and beyond.