Paterson faces lots of pressure

ALBANY — Gov. David Paterson stumbled a bit, once literally, in his first State of the State speech Wednesday, a tradition that allows governors to use soaring rhetoric and flourishes. In many quarters his performance was panned as pedestrian, uninspiring, even rambling.

But it’s the back story that overshadowed the political theater this year.

Paterson is perhaps the most pressured governor in state history. He’s dealing with a new version of the Great Depression, the loss of some of the most impressive addresses on Wall Street, the rare duty to appoint a U.S. senator that pits a Kennedy against a Cuomo, a shaky Senate Democratic majority he helped create, and the loss of his longtime chief of staff last fall who had protected him and helped get him to this job just 10 months ago.