You also have to consider that it's the Democratic Legislature with complicity from the Dem governor who put us into this situation. The next governor needs to be able to reign in the Legislature. IOW, you may have the greatest solution and ideas, but if you can't implement them because you are being obstructed, they won't do us any good.
I keep telling people that Arnold is much smarter than people think -- he is building his bridges that he will need to actually turn CA around, instead of just talke about it.
Do you think Buffett would loan CA money if McClintock became governor? I am not sure, but he seems to have worked out something with Arnold.
Being able to implement 30% of good things is much better, than not being able to implement any of your best ideas.
Here are is some real good analysis from Horowitz for those who missed, or even if you/they didn't,it's worth rereading and thinking about it:
"I am less amazed at conservative Republicans who still don't get it (because that's actually what Republicans are famous for) and are still in the race. As previously noted, even if a Republican candidate like Tom McClintock or Bill Simon could win the plurality to become governor, which they can't, their administration would be a disaster -- for them, for Republicans and for their conservative cause. If conservatives want to make California a conservative state they need to lay a lot more groundwork for that to be possible.
Arnold's is a dream candidacy for the Republican Party, which he alone can rescue from the dead. He has already made Republicans more user friendly to the public at large. He will make it easier for media talent in the state to relate to the Republican Party, which has ramifications for campaigns beyond California. He will inspire significant numbers of independents to vote for his party. And if he is elected -- unlike the conservatives biting at his heels -- he will be a formidable counter-balance to the Democratic legislature, which means he could actually improve the financial condition of the state.
If Governor Schwarzenegger were to do the right thing -- for example veto Democratic attempts to protect their expensive programs -- he would be in a position politically to resist their override. He could just take his enormous popularity and media presence into their individual senatorial and assembly districts and immediately threaten their electoral futures, so great is his popularity and media presence. Of course politics has its uncertainties and unseen pitfalls and no one knows if Arnold will be able to navigate them successfully. But if he manages to do so and win, he will actually have a chance to revive the state and run for a second term.
Even more important, Governor Schwarzenegger would change the political equation for the next presidential contest in 2004. A Bush 2004 campaign with Arnold as the President's point man in the state would unquestionably turn it into a competitive affair. This means that even if Bush does not ultimately win the state, the Democrats will have to pour big dollars into the state to contest the election. The drain of money and resources will impact close races across the country.
For all these reasons Republicans of all factions should rejoice at the Schwarzenegger candidacy. It offers the only possibility of a win for state Republicans or for the Bush campaign in California. It will help to revive the California Republican Party. And it could reshape the politics of the nation."
http://www.frontpagemag.com/articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=9320 For all these reasons Republicans of all factions should rejoice at the Schwarzenegger candidacy. It offers the only possibility of a win for state Republicans or for the Bush campaign in California. It will help to revive the California Republican Party. And it could reshape the politics of the nation."I see your mindset on this and it is a very understandable one at that!
Being an outsider, and looking at California's demise as an outsider, what I see in Horowitz's scenario is a gradual shift to the left to appease and make everything flow to keep us strong as a nation. IMHO we have been doing that on a national basis for decades and gradually we have been distancing ourselves from what this country's creation was based upon.
I, however, question this appeasment as being something to promote the betterment of California on the issues at hand.
Again, it is a quick, and most likely, a short term fix. If it even gets to the point of fixing the problems California has with Arnold as Governor.
Ironically, it was in June that Schwarzenegger was the keynote speaker at a 25th anniversary celebration of Prop. 13. Schwarzenegger praised the measure, which sharply curtails yearly increases in property taxes.Arnold's is a dream candidacy for the Republican Party, which he alone can rescue from the dead. He has already made Republicans more user friendly to the public at large. He will make it easier for media talent in the state to relate to the Republican Party, which has ramifications for campaigns beyond California. He will inspire significant numbers of independents to vote for his party. And if he is elected -- unlike the conservatives biting at his heels -- he will be a formidable counter-balance to the Democratic legislature, which means he could actually improve the financial condition of the state.
I've got Horowitz' Radical Son and The Politics of Bad Faith: The Radical Assault on America's Future.
His tactical instincts are respected by Republicans; his Restoration Weekend is the counterpart to the Left's Renaissance Weekend.
Arnold is the one who will beat Bustamonte.