This year, the head of the New York delegation to the convention is, as he has been every four years since 1996, Sheldon Silver, the Speaker of the Assembly.
The man can't give a decent speech to save his life. How well he represents a state on the cusp of real change, given his ironfisted control of the Assembly, with all that implies - abysmal approval ratings, legislative gridlock, unaccountable legislators, the most dysfunctional state government in the union - is open to question. Whether Sheldon Silver is really the face we want to present to the world, when we have real superstars - Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer - really isn't debatable. He's not. If it's possible to exude stasis, Silver has managed it.
The head of the New York State Democratic Party is David Paterson, the governor. He should be the one to lead the party to the next convention.
