I think that this is quite possibly the most ridiculous “if statement” I have ever heard. Apparently the Governor feels that once he tackles every major problem in California, he’ll be able to run for anything. From the Chronicle’s Carla Marinucci:
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped by The Chronicle this week and made it clear his future is wide open.
Asked if he has taken a position to ”never again” run for political office, the Republican governor told us that if he can finish the job by delivering on tough issues like the state budget, the water supply and then environment, then ”I think I can do anything I want.” (SF Gate 3/27/09)
Really, you think? You think if you solve every intractable problem in California, people will support you? Good call, Mr. Schwarzenegger. And if you discover the path to cold fusion, I’m sure we’ll just go ahead and crown you Emperor.
Meanwhile, he repeated his statement that he has no intention of either leaving the Republican Party or running for Sen. Boxer’s Senate seat in 2010. To me, if it looks like he’s angling for anything, it’s some sort of eco-job in the Obama administration.
I’m not sure what he really has in mind, as he’s not really the nuts-and-bolts policy wonk type. He’s a showman, always has been, always will be. If he has a future in politics or policy, it should be as some sort of pitch man for greening the planet. Now, I’m not saying that he’s actually been that good for the environment as Governor, he’s too good of a friend to the business lobby to say that, but he has sold a lot of eco-friendly light bulbs.
Meanwhile, if he provides long-term and sustainable fixes for these intractable problems without doing it on the backs of workers and the environment, I’ll be leading the charge to amend the constitution.
to be elected to another office; but honestly, I don’t think his focus is really trying to solve these problems. If that were the case, he’d have been acting a lot differently toward his caucus. I think what he’s “all about” is something a lot less noble.
Arnold’s great at appearing moderate and reasonable when the media (and Obama, apparently) are paying attention but then is a hard core partisan in trying to remake California by making use of his favorite fraction – 2/3 – to stick it to California. He is extreme: The guy vetoed more than 1/3 of all bills that came to his desk in 2008 – many with no explanation at all. He can do so without the fear of being overridden – R’s can prevent overrides or does them at the very end of the legislative session.
Sure, Arnold looks reasonable compared to Republican legislators, but they are all really part of a team. He’s the good cop, while the Republican legislature plays bad cop. Arnold didn’t raise a finger to get R’s to negotiate in good faith on the budget; he vetoed the responsible budget that the Democrats passed so that he could worsen the crisis to Republican advantage; he held back the $9 billion for schools which he’s now using as a bribe in Prop 1B to neutralize union opposition to the spending cap; and on and on.
The difference between Arnold and many of the Republican legislators and the base (who are fighting against Prop 1A) is NOT ideological. It’s that he’s smart about what’s necessary to impose Republican ideology on a Democratic California (e.g. hold back school money which can be used to bribe teacher unions into accepting a spending cap, temporary extension of taxes to partially address the deficit problem that he created) and the hardcore Republicans just can’t see the bigger picture.
As far as the Republican legislators, I think there are a significant number of them who recognize that Prop 1A is a big win for them and the party, but publicly oppose it to avoid offending their base. Their insincerity on their anti-Prop 1A positioning will show if they don’t actually do anything to defeat the measure.
This comment turned into a rant only tangentially related to your post. Sorry about that..
He should be a lesson to California not to be impressed with celebrity.
Is it possible to build a political party on celebrity and rich guys? I think that’s all that the GOP has left.
A phony drummed up recall of Gray Davis followed by a truly circus atmosphere with everybody running (Gary Coleman? A porn star?) followed by Arnold appearing on the Tonight Show to say how he was going to save us all. What an absolute joke that whole sorry episode was! Not to mention making California a national embarassment (I guess that’s OK, everybody else thinks we are nuts anyhow).
Uh, folks, ya think you’ll ever learn not to send someone to high office with ZERO experience in government? Didn’t think so………..
The Progressive Community should make May 19 a vote of NO Confidence on Arnold. If 1A doesn’t pass Arnold should resign
just like they do in Europe. This will prevent the Right from
turning 1A’s defeat into a Groundhog Day for “NO New Taxes” due to lack of journalistic analysis and ease of story line.
We can all vote yes on 1B to show who we are. Arnold of course won’t follow thru but it will end his run at the ballot box and send him back to Hollywood as a spent force.