Dueling Drive-Bys

Look upon this as a foretaste of what "politics" in Obamerika will be like after the ex-United States officially becomes majority-minority:

President Obama has sent a request to Governor 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.

Uh-huh. Suuuuuuuure, they were. And if they thought that Paterson might actually heed those "discussions," there'd have been no need to leak them, now would there?

For what it's worth, I have to agree with AP on this, up to a point:

[R]emind me again, why are we supposed to be miffed that Obama’s nudging Paterson towards the exit? The guy, quite simply, is an electoral catastrophe. Think I’m exaggerating? If state AG Andrew Cuomo is the Democratic nominee for governor next year, he beats Giuliani by fully thirteen points. If Paterson’s the nominee, Giuliani wins — by seventeen points. Head to head in the Democratic primary, Cuomo tops the incumbent governor by, wait for it, forty-six points. He’s a sitting duck, in other words, which means the only question is whether he’s going to step aside with dignity or hold on and force Cuomo to put him out of his misery in a potentially rancorous primary. That’s why The One’s leaning on him.

While it seems to me that being the titular head of one's party doesn't even impliedly give a president the stroke to order an elected state-level official to not seek election to a term of his own, one - and The One - can certainly see the hand-writing on the wall for David Paterson, even if he doesn't. In a cycle that's going to produce Donk bloodbaths from sea to shining sea, this is a particular massacre that can be headed off at the pass relatively easily, if the "sitting duck" will take the hint and fall on his sword.

If not, that is, for the fact that a Paterson-Cuomo primary contest wouldn't be a contest at all. If that matchup was going to be a knock-down, drag-out, Katy-bar-the-door pierce-sixer - or at least, you know, competitive - I could see why bagging and tagging Paterson would be a Democrat imperative. But forty-six points? How does that translate to a "party-splitting," "rancorous" Dem gubernatorial primary? Or is the thinking that "party-splitting" means a New York intra-Donk race war between white libs and black libs who tear into each other as if each saw the smirking mein of George W. Bush on their rival?

But....forty-six points? What, is Paterson going to tap "Client #9" as his running mate and "token cracker" to neutralize the latest Empire State attorney-general crusader?

Y'know what? I think Barry worries too much.