Is Gov. Paterson actually a great governor?

After my interview on Friday with Gov. David Paterson I came away with the impression of a guy convinced that he’s firmly on track.

In an economy where a majority of American states facing horrific deficits, New York is no different.

But Paterson is convinced that our situation is — so far — much healthier than states like California and Michigan.

And he thinks his unpopular belt-tightening measures deserve a big chunk of the credit.

I think when people see that I balanced two budgets on time in the middle of a recession, they’ll be a little surprised…and I had the most difficult budgets of any of the previous governors. Our credit rating is a strong as any other state’s in the country.

But Paterson also acknowledged that voters don’t seem particularly charmed by those sorts of accomplishments.

I think we’re in an angry time. Every incumbent had problems in elections two weeks ago because of the recession. But this next election is a year away.

In the same way that I think people understand the financial crisis better this year than they did last year, I think they’ll understand the government crisis better.

So what do you think? Is Paterson misunderstood? Underappreciated? In a town as dysfunctional as Albany, could anyone else do better?

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