Pataki's rough week

It's been a tough week for New York's governor George Pataki. There is widespread chatter in New York political circles about whether the governor will run for a fourth term in 2006. Running for a fourth term usually isn't kind to any chief executive in a democracy. Ask Helmut Kohl or even Pataki's predecessor, Mario Cuomo. After a decade or so, people usually start to get tired of you. And Pataki was never that well-loved in the first place. His main attribute is that he's so bland that he's hard to demonize.

Yet people are getting tired of him. Scandals like corruption and slush funds in the state's public authorities and the selling of Erie Canal development rights at a cut price (NYCO blog has a series of articles on this) have further eroded the public's already shaky confidence in state government in general. Pataki, as chief executive, is a focal point of this generalized malaise but his active obstruction of those who are trying to shed light on these issues does not look good.

Admittedly, most New Yorkers are hazy at best about the details of these things, but it only confirms their perception that state government is irredeemibly corrupt. With gerrymandering, it's nearly impossible to get rid of a state legislator, but it's easier to get rid of a governor. A sports analogy would be appropriate here.

A poll last week showed his approval rating at a mere 43%. Pataki would likely get trounced in an election against popular Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who has already announced his candidacy for governor. Yet despite his unpopularity even in New York, where a Republican must be moderate to win statewide office, there are still those who hold the delusion of Pataki as a serious candidate for president. While Pataki might be chosen as a vice-presidential candidate, Al Sharpton is as likely to his party's presidential nominee in 2008 as Pataki.

As a moderate, it was unsurprising that Pataki was also slammed in this recent article in the National Review... which is increasingly adopting the Weekly Standard/American Spectator model of trash (TNR used to have good quality writing, a good representation of intellectual conservativism, even if I disagreed with most of it).

Among Pataki's crimes: his recent State of the State address advocated (according to TNR) creating more bird sanctuaries, building new ethanol facilities, and encouraging kids to exercise.

In recent States of the Union, President Bush has talked about hydrogen fuel cells and criticized baseball players who take steroids. But I guess Bush was sufficiently strident and militaristic in other parts of the speeches to escape the TNR's wrath.

Then again, TNR columnists also regularly attack Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel for daring to question the wisdom of the Bush administration's macho chest-beating and blind beligerence that passes for a foreign policy. So maybe Pataki's in good company.