Meet Governor Paterson

David A. Paterson was sworn in as the governor of New York today, following the sex scandal that forced Eliot Spitzer's resignation. Paterson is the country's second blind governor. (Bob Riley served as an interim governor of Arkansas in 1975.) Also, he is only the nation's fourth African-American governor.

Unlike his more confrontational predecessor, Paterson called for bipartisan unity:

Let us grab the unusual opportunities that circumstance has handed us today and put personal politics, party advantage and power struggles aside, in favor of service, in the interests of the people...

No matter how talented an individual may be, no matter how much energy he might posses, regardless of how much integrity and honesty he or she may have, if that person is alone, they can accomplish very little...

And so what we are going to do from now on is what we always should have done: we are going to work together. With conviction in our brains and compassion in our hearts and the love for New York on our sleeves, we will dedicate ourselves to principle but always maintain the ability to listen. And now we look forward in this great state, we look forward with our eyes very much on the greatness of New York, and we look forward – ever forward – together.

It will be interesting to see what role he'll play in the election. In virtue of his being a Democratic governor, Paterson is also a superdelegate. Spitzer had supported Hillary, but Paterson's style seems to put him in the Obama camp. Will he go for Obama, or follow the Democrats of New York and support Clinton instead?

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