Looking for one good man or woman

I'll admit it. I don't know what it takes to be a good governor.

David Paterson, who announced today he won't run in November, struck me when he was inaugurated in March 2008 as an inspiring (because of his handicap), unassuming, humorous guy who seemed like the perfect antidote to his predecessor, the steamroller himself, Eliot Spitzer. Turns out, to put it politely, that Paterson was in over his head.

Fifteen months earlier, when he took office, the combative Spitzer seemed just what was needed to shake the state out of its lethargy. But his aggressiveness got him in trouble even before a prostitution scandal brought him down.

Twelve years before that, George Pataki's tough talk about holding down spending, cutting taxes and making New York more business-friendly seemed like the right road to take, given the state's economic and fiscal woes. But he abandoned those policies within a couple of years in the face of dismal poll numbers.

I wasn't here when Mario Cuomo was inaugurated in 1983, but I remember being in awe early on (I arrived in August of 1984) of his speaking and leadership skills. It became apparent only later that he was far too much of a detail guy to focus on big-picture issues, and that he brooked little internal dissension.

So what about the new guy who will take over in January? It will most likely be Andrew Cuomo, who now comes across as the epitome of competence and reasonableness. But he was known as a fierce partisan when he was a top adviser to his father 25 years ago.

Wonder how long it will take his fatal flaw to emerge.