The Governor released an ad yesterday featuring a one minute long talking head Arnold. He basically apologizes for his own failures and then attacks anyone who disagrees with him. Pretty much standard Arnold there.
But, as John Myers points out, the timing of this ad is strange. In many ways it is the Governor’s team on its back foot. The California Teachers’ Association ad, with its “We’ll Never Forget” tagline, has to some extent pushed Arnold off message.
On education, CTA has the upper hand in public opinion. Not only for who they are, but also for the simple reason that a majority of the state agrees with their position. Poll after poll shows that Californians will gladly accept some tax increases in exchange for better schools and the avoidance of major cuts to K-12 education.
However, the fight for this budget seems to be coming towards some sort of movement with the Big 5 leaders indicating progress. Very little in terms of details have come out of those meetings, but Arnold clearly feels he needs to build political support for his cuts-only approach to shock doctrining the state. I’m not sure that this ad will really do it.
Why is Arnie sitting down while he’s asking people to “Stand For California”? Is this a Freudian slip, saying that he expects those least able to sacrifice to stand up and bear the brunt of his budget mess while the oil companies relax in their Barcaloungers?
Come on kids, get creative with this one…
this makes the ad even more defensive, because he’s trying to draw a line in the sand that’s unnecessary, suggesting he may get nothing else from the process.