Being politically correct is not working in New York politics.

I am not surprised but terribly disappointed that the Empire State’s legally blind, African American governor, David Paterson, is being vilified by right and left, black and white, poor and rich.

“Paterson’s so low, Spitzer looks good,” read Tuesday’s front-page headline in the free New York City commuter daily Metro.

For those who are not riveted by the antics of Albany, Paterson became governor abruptly in March 2008 when the testosteronally overcharged Eliot Spitzer resigned after getting caught with a call girl. A veteran pol whose father has been a fixture in the state’s Democratic party since the 1950s, Paterson had time for neither formal media training nor staff vetting when he was thrust onto center stage.

The results have been nothing short of a disaster for someone who has dedicated his life to public service.

The Marist College poll, reported in Metro, shows Spitzer was the preference for 51 percent of those questioned versus just 38 percent for Paterson. The question asked by pollsters was, “”Who would you rather have as governor right now?”

I don’t think I’m sticking my neck out here by saying that being man of color is not the problem. Barack Obama seems to be getting on just fine in the White House, enjoying a 68% approval after 100 days. Only two presidents in the past half century – John F. Kennedy, 83 percent, and Dwight Eisenhower, 72 percent — had a higher approval rating at this point in their presidencies.

Analysts point to a lack of strong leadership for Paterson. Yes, he embarrassed Caroline Kennedy and blabbed far too much about his decision-making process in filling the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton. He has also taken flack for legislation regarding gay marriage and solving unprecedented fiscal woes, like funding New York City’s perennially mismanaged Metropolitan Transit Authority.

What no one’s saying is that Paterson shows up at every major disaster and crime scene — from the ambush of a police officer in Rochester to the murderous rampage by a suicidal immigrant in Binghamton — and that the state budget was passed just one day late. The budget was weeks or months late when Republican George Pataki was governor.

My contention is that Paterson’s public image problems relate to his blindness.

Unlike Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles, New York’s governor, who was 3 months old when he suffered optic nerve damage because of an ear infection, does not hide his off-center eyes behind sunglasses. His salt-and-pepper beard contributes to an appearance uncharacteristic of Hollywood-ready governors and presidents.

With no provocation, the media has pounced on Paterson with venom usually reserved for public figures who are either prison-bound, like Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, or morally devoid but not yet convicted of being jerks.

Saturday Night Live’s Fred Armisen has used Paterson’s disability on a number of occasions to draw laughs as he keeps one eye closed while holding charts upside down, walking aimlessly around the set and bumping into chairs.

Sean Delonas, a cartoonist for the New York Post, depicted Paterson sitting behind a desk on which sits a framed photograph of the bumbling animated TV character Mr. Magoo. The Delonas cartoon also included a seeing-eye dog.

Paterson has had to work harder than his sighted peers to graduate from law school and achieve his professional accomplishments. There’s nothing in the LexisNexis news clipping database that portrays him as a jackass.

Yes, he has faults.

Paterson, and his wife, admitted marital infidelity. The governor, a former assistant district attorney in Queens, also talked openly about youthful cocaine use.

Coincidentally, Obama’s autobiography also chronicles his use of cocaine.

As someone who has spent my career in news and PR — including a brief stint in the state Capitol bureau of United Press International — I would love to see Paterson address the issue of media discrimination of the handicapped in a more forceful manner.

With poll numbers like these, he doesn’t have anything to lose.

(Disclosure: I serve as a volunteer member of the marketing and education committees at Lighthouse International, a 104-year-old New York-based not-for-profit agency that provides services to the blind and visually impaired. Two of my four sisters are legally blind.)