It’s been but two weeks since Governor Paterson was sworn, and already insiders at Albany are talking about his administration as if it were an unfortunate footnote in history. Doubts about his capacity to serve out Governor Spitzer’s term have led to ruminations of a special gubernatorial election match-up between Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani this November. Rudy-Hillary ’08: the Undercard, as one political commentator dubbed it online.

To a degree, Mr. Paterson’s predicament is the result of a condensed vetting by the press. Normally reporters would have had a whole campaign to do the kind of thing they’re now doing in a matter of weeks. They’ve responded admirably in respect of this sudden responsibility. Mr. Paterson’s own disclosures of extramarital disbursements of political and taxpayer money have compounded a growing sense that our new governor is out of his depth.

Mr. Paterson has been called the “accidental governor.” The term is misleading. He ran for office in 2006 as Mr. Spitzer’s running-mate. He was elected to serve as second-in-command. Mr. Paterson did not treat the job as such but saw it as a stepping stone to the Senate in Washington. He made no secret of his wish to fill Mrs. Clinton’s seat should she be elected to the White House. He spent more time campaigning on behalf of Mrs. Clinton in Iowa than considering what he would do as governor, and now it shows.

Mr. Paterson’s unpreparedness suits the speaker, Sheldon Silver, and the Senate majority leader, Jos. Bruno, just fine. They were all smiles on Thursday standing next to Mr. Paterson to announce that they are adding $500 million to Mr. Paterson’s budget plan, raising spending over last year by 4.8%. Mr. Bruno’s hooray for the new “congenial” atmosphere in Albany almost made one nostalgic for the era of Spitzerian rancor. New York, Mr. Paterson said, is facing “perhaps the worst economic climate that this state has seen in a very long time.” But evidently the economy wasn’t bad enough to risk offending Messrs. Silver and Bruno.

Time is running out for Mr. Paterson to define himself to New Yorkers before he is written off as a placeholder for the next real governor. It would help for Mr. Paterson to reintroduce himself to the public by giving his own “State of the State” speech that answers basic questions about what he stands for and hopes to accomplish over the next two and half years.

For starters, Mr. Paterson could tell us what he intends to do about lowering suburban and upstate property taxes? As governor, Mr. Spitzer became convinced that the only solution to the tax problem was to force school districts to curtail growth by imposing a cap. The Legislature is cold to the idea. Is the governor willing to cross them by pushing for a cap?

New York has the third highest energy prices in the nation, a result in part of burdensome energy regulations, escalating system taxes, and a failure to reauthorize power plant siting legislation. In his speech, Mr. Paterson could lay out how he plans to expand capacity and reduce the cost of power.

Mr. Paterson is poised to raise public education spending by $1.8 billion, about four times the rate of inflation. What does he demand in return from the schools and teachers? On the higher education side, what becomes of Mr. Spitzer’s plan to add 2,000 professors to SUNY’s faculty and finance a public university endowment?

As mega-development projects in New York City are dropping like flies, Mr. Paterson has given little indication of his priorities while Senator Schumer and others are filling the leadership vacuum with, if not leadership, at least their agendas. The governor could change that by setting the record straight about who’s in control and what he is committed to building. Until Mr. Paterson presents his vision to New Yorkers, he can expect more talk of a special election this fall.