Posted on 12/01/2010 8:22:40 AM PST by SmithL
He has been, in many ways, a governor of firsts:
• The first to take office as a result of a recall election.
• The first to commute, on an almost daily basis and via private jet, between the Capitol and his Southern California mansion.
• The first to have served in the Austrian army, the first to have won the Mr. Olympia body-building title seven times, and - as far as we know - the first California chief executive to have nude photos of himself widely available on the World Wide Web.
But "first" does not necessarily mean "great," or even "good."
And like almost all elected leaders, the complete legacy of Arnold Schwarzenegger's 86 months as California's 38th governor won't be truly assessable until well after he leaves office.
Some key elements of Schwarzenegger's prize environmental law aimed at reducing greenhouse gas, AB 32, won't go into effect until next year or 2012. Its true impact won't be measurable for years.
A massive $11.1 billion water bond proposal - a key element of an equally massive water system restructuring plan the governor successfully pushed through the Legislature last year - won't go before voters until 2012.
Similarly, an ambitious high-speed rail project for which Schwarzenegger has been semi-enthusiastic isn't likely to begin construction before 2012 at the earliest.
Of course, the lack of closure on some issues won't stop either Schwarzenegger's supporters or foes from labeling his administration a success or failure.
Apostles of the governor point to enactment of the toughest auto emissions law in the country, a $42 billion package of public works programs, changes in the workers' compensation system, creation of a redistricting commission and voter approval of an open primary system as examples of successes under Schwarzenegger's watch.
Critics counter with the governor's failures to restructure state government,...
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
“He won’t be back”
publicity seeking wannabe RINO squish who folded like a three-dollar card table when confronted by Public Employee Unions and his Kennedy in-laws
Death of the California Republican Party.
schwartzpuker turned out to be a democrat loser.
A couple of Freepers learned a lesson.
Married to a Kennedy will be his legacy!!!
California is no longer a manageable state. It's insolvency is all but a forgone conclusion. The public service unions have a death-grip on the legislative branch which effective neuters any reform-minded executive. And the unabated illegal immigration cripples it public services. It's hopeless. I'm sorry Kalifornia.
Exactly.
Arnie’s reign can be marked mostly by his naivete’.
He tried passing everything that could have put the state on the right track through ballot initiatives, and was SOUNDLY defeated by outside groups and Unions spending hundreds of millions of dollars against them.
After that, I think he just gave up on it.
The ultimate FAIL.
He turned out to be a bigger girly man than Grey Davis.
Arnold says he will run for president in 2012! If Rubio and Jindal thinks they cans runs, he cans runs too!!!
In this age of mass media, and since the first Kennedy-Nixon debates, there has alwatys been a tendency to vote for those with “star quality” - however defined - for public office. This has never been the case more than within the precincts of California, home of the phenomenon loosely referred to as “Hollywood.”
Very few of the greatest politicians and statesmen of the pre-television era could win elected office in this televison age.
Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, ran as a Republican, after which, the hen-pecked “He-Man” spent his entire term taking orders from his Kennedy clan wife.
Weak, ineffective, a joke, a spender, bitch to the unions, and leaves the state in a total financial mess from which there is no return.
He took over from Gray Davis the leaking ship of California adrift on a sea of troubles and ran it into the rocks, leaving it a smoldering hulk burnt to the waterline.
The true Schwarzenegger legacy is that conservatives have learned that they can’t vote for a rino hoping that half a pie is better than no pie at all.
It isn’t. Schwarz went so far off the ranch that they might as well have conferred citizenship and voted for Barney Frank.
Fade to Red. Red Ink, that is.
Operation Bamboozle complete.
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