So, now David Paterson will, as of next Monday, become governor of New York (first African-American in that post; first legally blind person to become governor of any U.S. state).
What does this mean for New York’s future?
I’m just waiting for the reaction when someone tells him he’s black.
(Apologies to Richard Pryor)
I’ll admit I made my first tasteless joke at our new Governor’s expense earlier today. My co-worker and I are civil servants in New York. He was talking about some problems he was having with a report he was working on. I responded, “Why are you worrying so much about it? It’s not like the governor’s ever going to read it.”
What? Too soon?
I was thinking David Chapelle.
By all accounts, he seems to be much more of a consensus seeker than Spitzer – former state Senator, well thought of by his former colleagues on both sides of the aisle. I think he will have an easier time cutting deals on some of the big issues that face New York (particularly how to close the deficit), but he’s definitely not the kind of guy who’s going to bring the sort of political culture shock to Albany that Spitzer promised (although he was having a hard time delivering on that promise as it was).
Well, I made a joke about him too. To a friend of mine, who is legally blind, like him.
She also has partial sight, and, like him, is able to read papers by holding them very close. She basically touches her nose to the paper when reading it. At work, this was frequently done with copies, and often some of the ink/toner would come off, leaving her with a definite black spot on her nose. Which we used to tease her about.
Today, when discussing the new Governor with her, I mentioned that he probably had the same problem after reading papers, but nobody would ever notice it on him.
At the very least, he’s funny.
*That’s nothing. 
We had a legally blind president for over 8 years. I hated him for his politics, but his blindness didn’t seem to be a problem for him. He had a firm grip on his people and the nation.
*It could be argued otherwise seeing as the NY economy is larger than that of our entire country’s, and the population of the state is also bigger than ours.
It’s kind of a shame that reporter didn’t ask him if he’d be seeing any prostitutes…classic straight line for Paterson to knock out of the park…
I think you mistyped - you probably meant legally dumb, not blind.
Mighty_Girl isn’t posting from the US.
There’s other countries?
OK, I now have an official favorite Governor.
To go back to the OP:
What it means for New York is this: nothing.
New York has what has to be the most dysfunctional government in the U.S. Literally everything is done via three men in a back room. Until that changes, it doesn’t really matter who the governor is.
Zev Steinhardt
You win.
Don’t suppose there’s such thing as a cite for any of that?
Not really. Just common knowledge.
Republican. Democrat… It doesn’t matter. Until the Legislature isn’t totally controlled by the leaders of the respective houses, not much will change.
Zev Steinhardt
He’s black?
Seriously, I saw his first public apperance after Spitzer resigned on the news and I had no idea he was black.
Yeah, we also had one like that.
I am Dominican.
I doubt most Americans know much about their lieutenant governors.