YNN

TROY, N.Y. -- President Barack Obama visited the Capital Region Monday to tour Hudson Valley Community College and give a speech on innovation. The president's stop in Upstate New York was short lived, but not short on political drama.

Shortly after landing at Albany International Airport, the president embraced Governor David Paterson, amid reports that the White House is urging the embattled leader to step aside and let someone else - most likely Attorney General Andrew Cuomo - be the Democratic nominee for governor. The New York Times reported Monday that the governor is mulling over the pitch, even though he made it clear in a stop Sunday that he is still running for the seat.

But in his introduction, the president had only kind words for the governor, calling him a "wonderful man," although he had even kinder words for the attorney general, praising him for what he called a job well-done.

As for the speech itself, the president quickly seized on the struggling economy in Upstate New York.

"So while all of America has been gripped by the current economic crisis, folks in Troy and Upstate New York have been dealing with what amounts to almost a permanent recession for years - an economic downturn that has driven more and more young people from their hometowns," he said.

Obama went on to say his proposals investing in education and new technology, along with his health care reform plan, will help jumpstart business across New York and the nation. The president also outlined an ambitious education goal, saying by 2020 America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world - and he invoked a former New York Democrat to drive that point home.

The president said, "A former senator from New York, Robert Kennedy, once told us, 'The future is not a gift; it is an achievement.' It was not an accident, not a gift that America led the 20th century. It was a result of hard work and discipline and sacrifice, an ambition that served the common purpose."

President Obama's visit to HVCC was not without some controversy. Among those not invited to attend the event were two former Republican leaders, former-Governor George Pataki and long-time Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno - both of whom were instrumental in the development of Tech Valley and the growth of the state's community college system. Pataki even held a telephone news conference Monday afternoon to address the issue.

"That and other projects in the Capital Region involved in this and the technology industry arose out of policies we put in place beginning in the year 2000, and what I fear was absent from the president's speech and has been absent from the policies we've seen out of Washington since January 20th have been an understanding that jobs are created by the private sector," said Pataki.

Monday's event was by invitation-only. President Obama was accompanied Monday by Dr. Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden. Dr. Biden has been an educator for 29 years and continues to teach at a community college not far from the White House.