According to the LA Daily News, this is what Daniel Zingale, one of Schwarzenegger's key health care advisers, said about the governor:
"He has an Arthurian style of governing, where he likes people to disagree in front of him."
And Zingale would know, I suppose, having served as chief of staff to Arnold's wife, herself 'Camelot'-born. But clearly, what Zingale is going for here is the idea that Schwarzenegger is the anti-Bush in that he welcomes dissent and a diversity of opinion. You'll recall the myth of Arthur and his round table:
There is no "head of the table" at a round table and so no one person is at a privileged position. Thus the knights were all peers and there was no "leader."
Which indeed does sum up Arnold's governing style: there is no leader.
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More from the LA Daily News:
By stuffing his health advisory team with staffers who represent the often conflicting interests of employers, medical associations, insurers, unions and patient-advocacy groups, the governor has been able to pre-empt a lot of the criticism that could have doomed the plan.
Oooh, wouldn't want criticism. Much better to form policy around being all things to all people, which by definition signifies a lack of leadership, wouldn't ya say?
Not according to the Daily News, which argues that this style is much more conducive to actually getting things done!
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's health care plan was molded by a team of staffers as politically varied as California itself – a fact that could accelerate the ambitious proposal's journey from idea to reality.
Oh really? How's that plan coming, anyway? Has it been introduced by an actual lawmaker in the Assembly or state Senate yet?
{Crickets chirp}
Perhaps it's true that, as the Daily News says:
The rancor that might normally accompany such a far-reaching and expensive plan is so far absent.
Certainly Speaker Fabian Nunez has far more praise for the governor and his healthcare plan than I would like, but the idea that this comity between the parties signifies the absence of politics is naive at best. Arnold was re-elected with 56% of the vote; partisan registration is dropping and decline to states are rising. Cozying up to a popular governor in this political climate IS politics. Does anyone really think it means Nunez will be more likely to support Arnold's plan? Of course not, he has his own, which, not coincidentally, he needs the governor to sign.
Some may argue, as the Daily News does, that the lack of partisan sniping in Sacramento is good for the state, and who knows, maybe it is what Californians really do want. But in the meantime, we are left with a healthcare debate virtually devoid of any debate. What would really be healthy is for politicians in Sacramento to exhibit some real leadership and introduce some bold initiatives into the marketplace so the best ideas, as they always do, rise to the top. There's nothing bold about 'post-partisanship;' it's simply a table without a leader.