David Paterson took his oath of office as governor this afternoon to cheers from an enthusiastic, supportive crowd of New York politicians, past and present.

His inaugural speech began with some of the levity he frequently uses. But the address itself was somber. He pointed to the state's immense challenges - the problems on Wall Street, "the crumbling Upstate economy," single mothers who are working two jobs, children who need better schools, families who don't have health care.

And he framed his address with the circumstances in which New Yorkers found themselves a week ago today, and the bitter partisanship that has persisted in state government. He said he "never expected" to find himself taking the oath of office as governor. But, he said, "our Constitution demands it." And, he said, "we are a government of laws, not individuals."

"This has been a very difficult week," he said, "but there have been turbulent weeks in our past," and there will be in the future.

"There is trust to be restored," he said. "There are issues that need to be addressed."

And he challenged the members of the State Assembly and Senate, who had gathered together for the address, to "put party advantage and power struggles aside in favor of service in the interest of the people."

"They call what we do public service for a reason," he said. "It's not politics, not parties.... Those interests can vanish in a moment. It is the service that endures. It is the service that is our mark... that is our record... that is our measure of performance."

It is public service, he said, that "called us to work in government in the first place."

And in an obvious reference to his predecessor's style of governing, he quoted the late Robert F. Kennedy's statement that "no matter how talented an individual may be, no matter how much energy he may possess," if that individual "is alone, he can accomplish very little."

"And so, he said, "we are going to do what we always should have done: we are going to work together."