Yesterday, President Obama met with David Patterson, the Governor of the State of New York, for one simple reason: to ask him to step aside and allow for newcomers in the 2010 elections.
Now, President Obama’s involvement here is dually interesting and important for a few reasons. First and foremost, the President doesn’t normally involve himself in the elections of unpopular Democratic governors, and secondly, this raises the issue of whether or not it’s politically acceptable for him to do so!
In an anonymous comment on an article in the New York Times regarding the issue, one person asked, if the president was so concerned about Democratic governors who are polling poorly, why he has yet to involve himself in the elections of other governors who exhibit similar showings, such as the governor of New Jersey. (The answer is that New York is much more politically important than New Jersey…but that’s beside the point).
The true issue is whether President Obama, the highest-ranking member of the Executive Branch, a federal operative, should be involving himself in state issues! Obama already has his handsful right now, and should leave Governor Paterson's term of leadership to die a natural death, without getting involved.
-Riley G.
Squishable Pre-Dawn Open Thread
1 hour ago
6 comments:
I'm confused. Couldn't newcomers technically run in the elections anyways? Or does Paterson have to be out of ht way for more competition to rise up?
I definitely can't answer that but maybe even though he isn't favored...a lot of people tend to choose who they are most familiar with. For instance, Arnold Schwarzenegger.. cough. I don't understand why everyone has to make such a fuss about our president HAVING AN OPINION, ASKING SOMEONE TO DO SOMETHING (probably for a good reason) or even GIVING A SPEECH TO CHILDREN TO STAY IN SCHOOL! (as much as we hate it) I know that its his responsibility to be "unbiased" because his words are taken seriously but.. hmm. Maybe he shouldn't talk about stuff when there's a pretty high risk for it to be turned into a controversy.
(just typing in caps to highlight xD things i laughed about yet.. his words were able to turn everyone against Kayne west so..[yes I am trying to be sarcastic again even if its partially true])
I think the speech was pretty rational. If I wasn't really lazy, I could find the link i sent myself specifically to blog about.
And for Arnold, honestly, after so many protests, I don't understand how he still won the election. But I guess you're right, people tend to vote for those which with they are most familiar.
It's true that newcomers can run in the elections anyways, but voters are more apt to vote for a candidate with whom they are already familiar. The saying "a known devil is better than an unknown angel" comes to mind.
I believe that President Obama involved himself with the election because the popularity (or lack of) of David Paterson affects the degrees of success he experiences when trying to pass legislature.
According to recent polling(More Bad Poll Numbers for Paterson), Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani is far more popular than democratic Paterson, while the democratic Andrew Cuomo is more popular than Guiliani.
Considering that, it seems likely that Obama asked Paterson to step out of the running so that Cuomo will have an easier time gathering the Democratic votes needed to defeat Guiliani in the next gubernatorial run.
I understand that Obama may have some good intentions, but everyone conceptualizes their own idea of what's "best" for everything politics. He may be the Commander-in-Chief, but he is in no position, to even consider attempted influence over others regarding business that is clearly out of his hands, especially if it's regarding a state's gubernatorial status. He shouldn't, dare I say doesn't, have that particular freedom. Good post.
Two cents √
-Andrew Oxendine 3°
I agree with you guys that it probably wasn't the best idea for Obama to get involved, but it wasn't a public position. It was an article in the NY Times that brought this to light, and it wasn't Obama directly that put pressure on, it was his staff. The president is trying to put his party in the best position in can be in for the 2010 elections.
Post a Comment