Obama and NY Gov. David Paterson

UPDATE: NY governor ignores pressure to end election quest

Gov. David Paterson isn't scrapping his plans to run for the office he inherited 18 months ago, despite growing pressure from Washington and intervention by the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has contacted the governor and the White House over his concern.

"My plans for 2010 are to run for governor of the state of New York," Paterson said Sunday after serving as grand marshal to the African-American Day Parade in Manhattan. "I am running for office."

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Obama is asking the governor of New York, David Paterson, to step aside because his chances of winning in 2010 look so bleak.

Paterson wasn't elected governor of the state. He stepped into that office when Democrat Eliot Spitzer resigned amid a very messy sex scandal involving a prostitute.

From the New York Times:

President Obama has sent a request to Gov. David A. Paterson that he withdraw from the New York governor’s race, fearing that Mr. Paterson cannot recover from his dismal political standing, according to two senior administration officials and a New York Democratic operative with direct knowledge of the situation.

The decision to ask Mr. Paterson to step aside was proposed by political advisers to Mr. Obama, but approved by the president himself, one of the administration officials said.

“Is there concern about the situation in New York? Absolutely,” the second administration official said Saturday evening. “Has that concern been conveyed to the governor? Yes.”

The administration officials and the Democratic operative spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions with the governor were intended to be confidential.

The president’s request was conveyed to the Mr. Paterson by Representative Gregory W. Meeks, a Queens Democrat, who has developed a strong relationship with the Obama administration, they said.

The move against a sitting Democratic governor represents an extraordinary intervention into a state political race by the president, and is a delicate one, given that Mr. Paterson is one of only two African-American governors in the nation.

But Mr. Obama’s political team and other party leaders have grown increasingly worried that the governor’s unpopularity could drag down Democratic members of Congress in New York, as well as the Democratic-controlled Legislature, in next fall’s election.

Mr. Paterson and his aides did not respond to repeated requests for comment Saturday. Mr. Paterson arrived on Long Island Saturday evening to attend a dinner, but walked hurriedly past a reporter who tried to ask him about the White House request.

Why aren't New Yorkers supporting Paterson?

Isn't it obvious? It must be because he's black.

Jimmy Carter should rip New Yorkers for failing to back Paterson.

Racists.

Tsk-tsk.

Will Al Sharpton object to this overt racism on the part of the White House?

It is racism, isn't it? New Yorkers simply won't accept an African-American governor. That's at the heart of the matter, right?

I find this paragraph to be very interesting:

The move against a sitting Democratic governor represents an extraordinary intervention into a state political race by the president, and is a delicate one, given that Mr. Paterson is one of only two African-American governors in the nation.

I get that the intervention into a state political race by Obama is out of line. That's a valid point.

I don't get why Raymond Hernandez and Jeff "Enchanged" Zeleny consider Paterson's skin color to be an issue.

Is it worse for Obama to butt in on the NY race for governor and request that Paterson hit the road because Paterson is black?

What's that about? Why is that a more touchy issue?

Once again, it's the Leftists that are focusing on race. Obama and his administration are not post-racial.

They are hyper-racial.