What else is there to do but stare in bug-eyed bewilderment at the wreckage of Caroline Kennedy’s effort to succeed Hillary Clinton in the US Senate?
That, and to ask this question: If Gov. Paterson is so inept that he can’t arrange so simple a transaction, what hope does New York state have of emerging intact from the fiscal crises now besetting it?
Make no mistake: Paterson’s endless procrastination on the matter of a Clinton succession – compounded by weeks of confusing, often contradictory signals regarding his intentions – created the circus that roiled Albany yesterday.
The governor is said to have told Kennedy last week that she was his choice – but that he was going to “keep the suspense up” by creating “a little misdirection” until he was ready to announce it.
That’s not leadership.
That’s incitement to anarchy.
And it matters: All the high drama undermines public confidence in Paterson’s ability to do the heavy lifting needed to balance a budget that is billions out of whack.
This page endorsed the Kennedy candidacy – but we’ll be the first to admit that she is far from blameless in this affair.
She certainly should have given the governor’s staff a heads-up on potential personal problems early on, which she apparently failed to do.
And the way she handled her withdrawal – seesawing back and forth and then staying out of contact for hours – was almost as bizarre as Paterson’s behavior throughout the affair.
Still, that’s where the governor should have exercised leadership and brought the matter to a close.
But he didn’t.
Instead, firing from ambush hours after the candidacy expired, Paterson staffers made matters worse.
They alleged that the “personal” issues that forced her withdrawal were tax liabilities and a nanny problem – as well as growing questions from reporters about the state of her marriage.
No doubt getting that out there felt good. But what purpose did it serve?
The candidacy was dead, while Paterson comes off as petty as well as inept – and who knows how many people the governor is going to need to pass his budget were needlessly offended?
A lot, probably.
Meanwhile, Paterson says he’ll announce Clinton’s successor in Albany this afternoon – fully 55 days after learning of the vacancy.
In the interim, the state economy continued to deteriorate, worsening a budget deficit estimated to be in excess of $15 billion through next year.
Yesterday, labor officials reported that New York has lost more than 100,000 jobs in just the past two months; that the state unemployment rate has hit 7.2 percent – the highest since 1994 – and that another 48,000 Wall Street jobs will vanish by year’s end.
Things have gotten so bad that the state’s unemployment-insurance system has effectively gone broke, forcing Albany to borrow money each week from the feds in order to keep paying benefits. By year’s end, the tab will reach, if not exceed, $1.3 billion.
All this should be taking center stage in the governor’s office.
Instead, David Paterson has been promising that President Obama’s stimulus package is going to solve New York’s problems – a pipe dream – while doing absolutely nothing to force the Legislature to confront the crises.
Maybe that’s because he doesn’t know how.
He’d better learn – fast.