A chastened Schwarzenegger sets new tone

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 11/10/05 | Adam Tanner - Reuters

[NormsRevenge]

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A chastened Arnold Schwarzenegger took the blame for his election day drubbing and said on Thursday he would heed the voters' message and work closely with Democrats to solve California's problems.

The California governor, looking tired, held one of his infrequent news conferences after voters rejected all eight initiatives offered on Tuesday in a special election he called to advance what he called "the year of reform."

"If I would do another 'Terminator' movie I would have Terminator travel back in time and tell Arnold not to have a special election," the former action film star joked. "I should have also listened to my wife who said don't do it."

Schwarzenegger's wife is Democrat Maria Shriver, niece of former Democratic President John F. Kennedy. She did not campaign with her husband as she did when he was elected in a special recall election two years ago.

The celebrity governor's tone was more subdued than in the past as the Republican stressed he would work patiently with Democrats in governing the state. He also offered some rare introspection about his personality.

"I operate with a different mentality than most people do, which is that I am very forceful and inpatient. I always have mapped out my entire life a program and a work schedule and also a schedule of when I want to accomplish things," he told reporters. "And I always, you know, was successful with that, and with tremendous amount of determination and with tremendous amount of will."

"So here in this capital and in this job as governor... I think you have to be more patient," he said. "I recognize that now, more so than I did before."

MAKING IT HAPPEN IN SACRAMENTO

As part of his efforts to reach out to legislators he has famously called "girlie men" in the past, Schwarzenegger met Democrat and Republican leaders of both houses of the California legislature on Thursday.

In the special election, he had tried to circumvent the legislature by asking voters to approve measures on the budget, redistricting and other issues.

"The message we got from the special election was very clear, which was that the people want us to take care of the job right here in this building and not go to them if things don't work out," he said.

"Instead of trying three times or four times, try ten times, but make it happen in this building here."

Schwarzenegger's remarks provided hints into his new direction as he tries to regain his footing a year before he hopes to be re-elected in a state where Democrats are the majority party.

Until now, Schwarzenegger often warned legislators that he would turn to voters with initiatives if they did not adopt his program. The gamble badly misfired on Tuesday.

"It was kind of like going to the Supreme Court," he said. "It didn't work in the lower court so I went to the Supreme Court and of course they sent me right back down again where I started."

"That's something you that have to do when you are in the movie business, you have to listen carefully to the people. If one of the movies goes into the toilet, you know that was the wrong story, that's not the kind of movie you want to do, you know, so then you change, you learn from that."

Democratic leaders appeared upbeat and satisfied after meeting Schwarzenegger.

"Obviously the governor had a very positive tone about us getting back to work, rolling up our sleeves and tackling some of the tough issues that confront our state," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.

[patriciaruth]

If someone has a more realistic scenario for saving the Golden State

A tsunami takes out San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Barring intervention from God, we will have to go bankrupt before the majority of voters here get the message.

Not sure how free Arnold will be with his veto pen now, but that is the only power he has left.

If someone above is right that conservatives stayed home and didn't vote in this election because Arnold wasn't nice enough to them, then they are to blame for the failure of the couple of propositions that might have helped improve things here.

[Bush gal in LA]

At this point I don't have a realistic plan for saving it. Playing hardball didn't work ,but neither will playing nice!We let the RATS have their way and thats how we ended up with Gray Davis who ran it into the ground already!.... I'm very angry at the people who sat out this election and let the union thugs have their way.... If I were Arnold I would quit now ,as you say, and then what? Bustamante, Meathead or Warren '' the idiot'' Beatty and his wife would take over raise taxes, and spend some more,give illegals drivers licenses, and ok gay marriage......no I can't stomach it there's got to be some other way out of this mess........

[NormsRevenge]

G'
Nite to
All.

I've exceeded the RDA of FR again, time to let George Snorey lul me to sleep. Monyonna. :-)

[edchambers]

You folks in California are screwed. You've got too many people who don't work, pay taxes,own property or have citizenship. But they do vote. And they voted to have you pay for the fact that they don't work, pay taxes,own property or have citizenship.

BINGO I couldn't have put it better myself the only thing I could possibly add is that Arnold can't "work closely with Democrats" to solve CA's problems when the Democrats ARE CA's problems.Oh well, still looking for a new place to live as soon as I sell my overpriced CA real estate I'm out of here.

[itisafreecountry]

<> Actually, Orange County did go bankrupt in the 1990's...

[Lancey Howard]

and said on Thursday he would heed the voters' message and work closely with Democrats to solve California's problems.

Loser. Quitter. Girlie man.
Sounds like California's working taxpayers may as well grab their ankles.