The Paterson affair: Why now?

Timing is everything in politics — and how many posts have I started with that sentence? But seriously, President Barack Obama and his political team knew that when they told Gov. David Paterson (D) he was sinking like a stone in New York and should abandon his gubernatorial race next year, this was something that would make the papers.
 
Indeed, according to a New York Times account, Paterson even said he would drop out, but then reversed course after it made the paper Sunday — he seems to think the Obama team leaked it. Apparently Paterson was given the word by an associate last Monday when Obama was making a big financial speech on Wall Street and had noticeably excluded him.

 
Why now? It could have come out before the five-show Sunday the administration was planning for itself. Why now, when Obama is battling to pass healthcare reform? Why now, when he is trying rebound from his own summer-sink in the polls? Why couldn't this have waited for, say, early next year, or Christmas?
 
Some Democrats in New York are pleased Obama is stepping in to try and save a political disaster from occuring — Rudy Giuliani wins the governor's office just in time for redistricting. But others aren't pleased. Everyone is shocked, and for good reason. I can't recall presidents inserting themselves into primary elections as Obama has done with Sen. Arlen Specter (D) against Rep. Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania. This move with Paterson confirms that Obama, for all his talk about being post-partisan, is happy to play party boss.
 
And Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele raised an interesting question, asking why Obama hadn't abandoned Gov. Jon Corzine (D) in New Jersey, who had similarly dismal public approval ratings. "I found that to be stunning, that the White House would send word to one of only two black governors in the country not to run for reelection," he said.
 

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