Paterson Death Watch...

The problem with what David Paterson did, and the way he did it, was that he put everybody, including himself, into an impossible position. Everybody understands what happened. Paterson made multiple deals, and handled all of them very badly. It was clear that he’d given assurances to Kennedy, and requested that she not protect herself when the press came after her. She accepted the deal, sweetened the pot, and instead of reciprocating in kind, instead of acting like an adult, he made himself a cat’s paw for the Clintons.

His plan was obviously to appoint Kirsten Gillibrand. Hillary Clinton had taken some heat (much of it from me) for her habit of pulling the ladder up behind her. As Gillibrand had worked to get her elected in 2000, when HRC ran against professional tomato can Rick “look at my butt” Lazio, she was chosen to proclaim Clinton as her mentor. She might have said it in Chinese, or French…

Paterson opted to have the press bloody up Caroline Kennedy. It was deliberate, and it served to punish the Kennedys for backing the new president. (It’s Barrack Obama who’s given Hillary Clinton the security clearance she lacked as co-president of the United States.) Also to protect Gillibrand from media and its questions. It was also intended as appreciation towards the Clintons for getting Spitzer out of the way of Paterson’s ascension. It will also prove it be his ultimate undoing.

Even after he’d admitted that he’d hung her out to dry, Kennedy still acted like an adult and tried to do the right thing by the state, and withdraw her name from consideration. If he’d handled himself properly, it would have worked. Instead, he had snide rumors gratuitously circulated. Of course everybody knows that there is no such thing a personal situation that will keep any Kennedy from public service, but by minimizing the fall out, she, unlike the other players in this ugly game, wasn’t trying to fool anybody, she was trying to protect the people of the state. She and her family walked 26 blocks, on a NY winter’s evening, to have their dinner out, show face, and really put the public a little more at ease. That’s a gesture of a true, seasoned player.

Nobody wants to be seen as a pushover, it sets an impossible tone. It’s the same reason women can be unyielding about the beginning of a relationship. It’s not that she doesn’t want to see you, she doesn’t want to tell your children that the first real date she had with their father, involved liquor, a famous hotel, and not even a gaggle of girlfriends to feign the appearance of propriety.

If the Kennedys don’t end his career, they invite every hustler, grifter, scammer to target all of them, and all their foundations. The Special Olympics, The River Project, all the environmental stuff, the housing, the heating, everything. It will be as if someone has rung a bell… it’s nothing more, or less than the way the world works.

So with David Paterson’s career very much over, who benefits? Andrew Cuomo looks like he feels like he’s in the running, but I wonder if he’s thought it through. I think he knows that HRC is largely a figurehead, and as such he figures she won’t have enough influence to jeopardize her job. He’s probably been assured that Bill will behave, but what if the Clintons, who have repeatedly been stone cold busted telling untruths to the public, are lying also to him. Even in private. OMG! What if HRC is conspicuous when disagreeing with the president? Is it possible she’ll lose this plum assignment, and need a place to land. With Paterson out of the way, and the Kennedys and Cuomos fighting each other, she can reluctantly agree to be called.