Posted on 12/26/2010 9:23:56 AM PST by SmithL
A month before the historic recall that drove Gov. Gray Davis from office in 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared in a TV commercial making a promise to the voters of California.
"Here's my plan," he said. "Audit everything, open the books, and then we end the crazy deficit spending. "... If you're happy with the way things are, keep your current leaders. If you want to change this state, then join me."
Voters joined in droves. But as he prepares to leave office seven years later, Schwarzenegger's promises are a distant echo.
He leaves a legacy of landmark environmental laws, public works spending and the first steps of significant political reform. Yet Schwarzenegger also leaves California a financial basket case, with the nation's lowest credit rating and a staggering $25.4 billion budget deficit -- far larger than the $10.2 billion deficit he inherited from Davis.
At his peak in 2004, Schwarzenegger enjoyed a 65 percent approval rating in the nonpartisan Field Poll -- higher than legendary governors Ronald Reagan or Pat Brown ever achieved. His latest rating is 23 percent, no different statistically than the 22 percent with which Davis left office.
"He was going to tear down the bureaucracy and blow up the boxes, make government more streamlined and efficient. It didn't happen," said Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo. "People still like the man, but he was just ineffective. He didn't do what he said he was going to do."
Legislative battles
Schwarzenegger, 63, has exuded optimism since he first came to the United States in 1968 from Austria. A champion bodybuilder with little money, barely able to speak English, he became one of Hollywood's A-list actors and a member of the Kennedy family through his marriage to Maria Shriver.
But as California's 38th governor, the larger-than-life Schwarzenegger failed to break the gridlock and dysfunction
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Kalifornia is worst off now than when he took over from Grey Davis.
This “action hero” buffoon was poison from the git-go. He’s a fool who’s always been a fool, but he fooled the folks in CA real good.
yes it is,But electing Gray Davis to help California is like sending a chicken with a headache to Coronel Sanders.
Hmmmm - wonder where the freepers are who told the rest of us we were nuts for not supporting Arnold - those of us who wanted to see McClintock in the governor’s mansion! Don’t see them around any longer, do we?
What happened to everyone on this forum who rejected McClintock because he was “unelectable?” Remember when Schwarzenneger was our best hope, even though he was the lesser of two evils? This is what you get when you vote for RINOs.
"Gimmee. Gimmee. Gimmee."
“His latest rating is 23 percent, no different statistically than the 22 percent with which Davis left office.”
Even the dumbest electorate in the USA can see through Schwarzenkennedy’s B.S.
“He’s completely allergic to ideology”
Not really. He’s obviously a religious worshiper who bows before the alter of ClimateChangism.
Arnold had the right ideas, but then he realized how unpopular his stances were and gave in to "practical politics" to preserve his celebrity image. There aren't many out there with the character of Chris Christie, who can stand up to the public employee unions.
Funny, I was thinking precisely the same thing. I also remember the lengthy lectures the pro-Arnold crowd used to subject us to. "I'm voting for the one who can win" they would say. Very well - and now California is probably closer to the cliff now than it once was.
In fairness, there isn’t anyone who can fix California. At this point, the prevailing view is “Eat, drink and be merry. Tomorrow we die.”
“California is probably closer to the cliff now than it once was.”
Yes, but there were a lot of us who believed the only good conservative strategy was to let the libs win, and watch it fall over the cliff. I think we pretty much got what we wanted. Ironic, though, because the same thing would have happened no matter what we thought or did. The libs have a complete lock on CA politics, and they are hell-bent on self-destruction.
The climate change credo is a legacy gift that will keep on giving. Watch as our industries buckle under the regulatory load of bull&%$# that is coming down upon them. One has only to look at the timber and biomass industries on either side of the California/Oregon border. One is healthy, and new alternative energy technologies are supported. The other is foundering with the last remaining mills closing and cogeneration plants mired in tons of lengthy, expensive red tape.
The gift of “sustainable communities” is right on track as California emmulates failed European strategies. And, if you read the new “visioning” blueprint for the CVPIA, it comes straight out of the European playbook.
Arnold took us quite a pace down the road to European socialism to the great loss of our individual freedoms and the integrity of private property rights. But it will be nothing in comparison to the steep slope we are about to travel down with Jerry Brown.
Another conservative seduced by the MSM at large and leftist pillow talk at home.
Sad.
Arnold didn’t run as a RINO. He had never held elected office before, so there was no record to consider, except his history as a successful businessman who had amassed a fortune in real estate. To my mind, that’s a pretty good predictor of executive success in the governor’s chair.
I voted for him in the recall election because Gray Davis had raised taxes and was borrowing money instead of cutting spending.
And because Arnold said, “Taxes are too high” and “California must operate under a balanced budget.”
Not a word about bankrupting us to adhere to nonsensical environmental standards. Not a word about a state asset fire sale for pennies on the dollar. Not a word about his plan to hire an all-Democrat staff of advisors and policy-makers.
Sure, we were suckered, despite our due diligence. And as for re-electing him... did you see the alternative in the last election?
The hell he didn't. All you had to do was R-E-A-D his position papers and you would have known he was going to take us into the sewer. You just believed the whisper campaign that he was a "fiscal conservative." It was complete crap from the beginning.
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