Arnold. Sigh. Ah, the missed opportunities

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 1/7/10 | Debra J. Saunders

[SmithL]

Mention Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger - you need only say his first name - and many Californians respond with a long sigh, then with words like "squander" or "waste" or "missed opportunity." Those in the political class look at Schwarzenegger and see what might have been.

Close your eyes and think back six years. There was excitement as Schwarzenegger delivered his first State of the State address in 2004; international, Washington and Southern California media flocked to sleepy Sacramento in such numbers that Capitol workers had to put up a tent to contain the overflow. The larger-than-life action figure garnered more raw votes in the crowded recall race than ousted Democrat Gov. Gray Davis won in the anemic 2002 general election. He could not exactly pronounce Cah-lee-fornia, yet he bounded into office with so much force that even before his first State of the State, he revoked the car tax and stared down the Legislature until it repealed a recently passed law to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. Democrats held comfortable majorities in the Assembly and Senate, yet six years ago, many were terrified - they lowered their voices when they talked about him - at what the muscle man might make them do.

On the right, the big fear was that Schwarzenegger's need to be liked would keep him from doing what needed to be done. As it turned out, Schwarzenegger pushed for budget reform and a tough pension overhaul to end pricey defined-benefit pensions for new state employees. Sadly, once his plans met resistance, rather than regird his loins, the governator slinked off the set in search of a new script.

[martin_fierro]

[RedMonqey]

Arnold.

Such a girly man...

[B Knotts]

The missed opportunity was to elect Tom McClintock.

Remember the threads? And how right we were about the liberal disaster Schwarzenegger would be?

[Lancey Howard]

The missed opportunity was to elect Tom McClintock.

Yep.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

There was excitement as Schwarzenegger delivered his first State of the State address in 2004; international, Washington and Southern California media flocked to sleepy Sacramento in such numbers that Capitol workers had to put up a tent to contain the overflow.

Excitement < legislative majority. Unless California voters decide to get rid of the Democrats, whose priority in life is the care and feeding of public sector unions, there's little to nothing any governor can do to slow California's decline.

[Cicero]

Yep. I remember it well. Everyone said, we have to vote for Arnold, because McClintock doesn’t have a chance.

I also remember everyone (including myself) saying, well, Arnold is a fiscal conservative. But he’s pro-abortion and pro gays.

Well, that delusion lasted about five minutes. Contrary to what this article implies, Arnold’s first act in office was to float a huge bond bill to pay off the debt. That’s fiscal conservatism?

Of course he said he just needed to do it just this once. It was all Gray Davis’s fault. Then he’d get the budget in order.

Sure. He gave in at the first sign of resistance, and turned out to be even worse than Gray Davis.

I don’t think you can blame the voters. It was Bush, Rove, and the RNC, who were already suffering under the delusions that real conservatives couldn’t win. So they undermined Bill Simon and shoved Arnold in to push McClintock aside. Here were the California voters once in a lifetime voting to balance the budget, and Bush, Rove and the RNC put their oars in and wrecked that once in a lifetime opportunity.

[B Knotts]

Yep. It would have been better to leave Gray Davis in place than to elect Schwarzenegger.

And, please notice that whenever there is a "fiscal conservative" who is pro-homosexual and/or pro-abortion, they always turn out to be fiscally irresponsible in the long run.

[Wayne07]

First let me say that the folks who were against Arnold were right.

Second, I think he started out OK, but when all his special election initiatives that would have empowered some sane budgeting failed, he then flipped. So I think the loser citizens in california are partially to blame. That doesn’t excuse Arnold going off the deep end - he is the worst sort of rudderless piece of crap politician who didn’t stand by his principles because he apparently didn’t really believe them.

[B Knotts]

Also, I agree with you wholeheartedly about the Bush/Rove machine.

[sinanju]

FOAH MOAH YEAHS!!

Sigh...

[FastCoyote]

I’ve heard the lamentation of the women, unfortunately it came from Arnold.

[backhoe]

Yep, he’s been a letdown- I covered the beginnings, here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/938629/posts
Total Recall- the Gray Davis Soap Opera
various FR links | 07-01-03 | The Heavy Equipment Guy