Yesterday my, well the state of New York's new governor, David Paterson was sworn in. I was at school so I missed it. I did catch a rerun of it on C-SPAN last night. I was impressed. First of all he's funny. Not funny like ooohhh, he's strange but funny haha, he has a sense of humor and did some jokes. Paterson was very upbeat and at one time the crowd in Albany was chanting his name. He ended his speech by voicing loud and clear, "let me introduce myself, I'm David Paterson, governor of the great state of New York."
He seems like a decent guy and I hope he can make a difference. What amazed me was since he's legally blind he used no notes or teleprompter. I don't know much about being legally blind but how does he do business? Does someone read every piece of paperwork to him. How does he know what he's signing. I'll leave you with an article highlighting some of his wit.
Wit leaves 'em laughing in the aisles
Gov. Paterson brought a little standup comedy to his inaugural address in Albany Monday:
In a joking reference to his blindness, Paterson recalled how Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver once stopped him from gaveling in a State of the State session. "Apparently I was about to bring the gavel down on a glass. ... The speaker at the last second grabbed the gavel away from me and he told me in his own inimitable way" - and here Paterson lowered his voice and imitated Silver's monotone - "'I will not allow you to turn the State of the State into a Jewish wedding.'"
On plans to have dinner with GOP rival and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (who is next in line of succession): "The other day we had lunch, and [Bruno] said, 'Listen, some evening if you feel like it, you should come out to the ranch and have dinner with me.' I'll go. ... I'm going to take my taster with me."
On Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco (R-Schenectady), who considers himself a decent basketball player: "[Tedisco] asked me the other day when he came by the office, 'Do you still play basketball, David?' I told him, 'I don't play basketball, Jimmy, I teach basketball. Maybe you'd like to come by for a lesson sometime.'"
"We don't know the path yet, but ... I know a little bit about finding one's way through the dark," he said in an allusion to his blindness."
1 comments:
he may be just what ny needs in the situation - someone to put a smile on faces and let people for get about what just happened a little bit. he also seems to be an interesting counter to Spitzer who was, apparently, to self-righteous.
legally blind? I have a friend from law school who was legally blind and from that- i know that you have nothing to worry about. actually, it should be no surprise that he does not need notes or a teleprompter. he has a life of experience presenting himself without such aids.
as far as reading, since he is "legally" blind, he probably still has the ability to read large print very close. also, he may have a large computer screen and he puts his face close to it.
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