The Yudhisthira of suburbia
It took less than 24 hours for reporters to smoke out new NY governor David Paterson’s adultery rumors: yes, he cheated, and so did his wife. Those are private matters. They broke no laws. Paterson’s elevation is a milestone: the third black governor since Reconstruction (fourth ever — thanks, Samir), the first visually impaired one, the first for whom a Jersey call girl served as kingmaker.
But Paterson and his wisecracking wit did not distinguish themselves in 20 years in the state legislature. His opening address promised comity; it did not promise to continue Eliot Spitzer’s Wall Street reforms, needed now more than ever. He was chosen as an amiable, uncontroversial running mate for what was emphatically a Spitzer ticket, not a firm hand on the wheel of the ship of state. He is a conciliator, not a reformer; he’s not ‘a fucking steamroller‘ or anything close.
Paterson reminds me of the legendary Yudhisthira, a ruler who invited disaster by playing a high-stakes game out of his depth against the scions of blind king Dhritarashtra (thanks, musical):
Yudhisthira was unable to refuse when Duryodhana’s maternal uncle Shakuni, challenged him to a game of dice. Thanks to Shakuni’s cheating, Yudhisthira lost each throw, eventually gambling away his kingdom, his wealth, his brothers and finally his wife… his brothers and his wife were forced to discharge the debt by spending thirteen years in exile… Yudhisthira was criticized by Draupadi and Bhima for succumbing to temptation and playing dice, an art he was absolutely unskilled at… [Link]
Albany is known for chewing people up. It’s the worst combination of byzantine political process, egregious gerrymandering, deadlock between urban Democrats and upstate Republicans, and the dilatory pace of a small city. It’s no place to elect someone with a history of getting little done. Hopefully Barack Obama ends up picking a stronger running mate.
But at least Paterson’s got a seriously GSOH.
on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008, 10:06 pm in Literature, Politics, Religion › 
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Manish, Yudhishthir (the eldest of the five Pandavas) was not blind! It was Dhritrashtra (the father of Kauravas), who was blind.
Let me be the first to say: Dhri… Dhrita… Medvedova. Whatever.
the previous Governor cheated on his wife, got ousted..
this new also cheated but it was mutual and they made up and are together again..
sad state of affairs..
abc news says 60% of married people cheat..
makes me not want to get married if this is the case..
Just saw this movie “enchanted” today and the theme of forever together in that movie and wondered if such kinda love even exists today…
Manish too bad..cant believe u didnot know that.. but liked ur title of the post…
The fourth black governor ever.
Louisiana, Virginia, Massachusetts the other three. No its not Bobby Jindal for LA
Poor Bill was just ahead of his time. These days, it’s all “I smoked, proudly inhaled, and scored blow off the street, while having sex with that woman, so f-ing what?” Maybe, I have a career in politics after all.
No mention of Obama’s magnificent speech in Philadelphia?
Cuckoldry and politics are are coupled together like wine and fine food…. BFD.
I’m bummed we traded a brainiac cheater for an undistinguished cheater. I
wonder in what shenanigans Schumer participated.
…and jfk, don’t forget jfk, the pioneer of the pants-down politicos
they all make my stomach turn. i’ll bet silda’s thinking ‘damn it! i should never have put my career on the backburner for this jerkstore’
It’s been chewed over here and was quite (exclusively?) focused on whites and blacks. But it’s amazing to rediscover what adult presidential speech sounds like. Sometimes my limbs twitch with phantom memories of Dubya and dad. Evildoers… terr’ists… wouldn’t be prudent. Did it really happen or was it a collective bad dream?
You know what’s funny — most people don’t even care about Paterson or his wife’s extra marital affairs… but some media outlets (mostly local, of course) are trying REAL HARD to make it an issue… And seriously, if the French can look past their president’s crap, why can’t we?
- Borderline Racist @ http://borderlineracist.wordpress.com