Politics: "Honey, I Shrunk My Mandate" or "Client 9 from Outer Space"

Just when we thought that the Democratic Presidential Primaries couldn't get any more excruciating we have the Death Watch over the Governor Eliot Spitzer resignation..

It is fair to say that even many of his supporters and admirers were uncomfortable with his use of his enormous political mandate. It seemed that he was incapable of governing, could not accomplish his State policy initiatives since he felt that he could only use his electoral mandate as a cudgel to attempt to beat his opponents into submission, could not work things out with Sheldon Silver of the Assembly or Joe Bruno of the State Senate. Mediation, political wrangling, negotiation clearly did not seem to be part of his personal toolkit. His way or the highway. Who did he think he was, Billionaire Mayor Mike Bloomberg ? Even Mayor Mike seems to be squeaky clean by comparison, or at least has the sense to cover his tracks really, really well.

There seemed hope in recent weeks that the Governor was in the process of toning down his approach, and that he would try something new in his second year of office. But now in retrospect, perhaps he was just keeping his head down, since he knew the Feds were circling. He has not only wasted his mandate but lost the tie breaking vote for the Dems that Lt Governor David Paterson potentially held in the State Senate. Press accounts suggest that the Lt Governor has reached out to GOP elected offiials and expressed a willingness to start fresh. Everyone in the state needs to support him and give him the benefit of the doubt before the knives are unsheathed. He may not be the Sheriff of Wall Street, but perhaps he can offer "hope" in New York, which we seem sorely in need of....

One could sense in his first year that there was something awry in the Spitzer administration. Perhaps, down deep, the Governor realized that he could not change himself, could not actually be a true leader, could not work across party lines to achieve his goals. He was a hard charger who seemed to have the world at his feet. How could he fail? So he unwittingly derailed his elected office, his administration, and his personal life, rather than fail.

There are no political enemies to blame here. "The fault lies not in our stars/but in ourselves." The watch continues.