To Find the Center, Turn Right

Opinion Journal ^ | 10/10/03 | DANIEL HENNINGER

[Pokey78]

Unlike the rest of us, Californians have to pass through life perched over the San Andreas Fault. As such, their survival depends on being able to pick up vibrations faster than most people, whether it's glasses of water shifting on a tabletop or politics rippling across the vast and diverse terrain of the Golden State. On Tuesday, more than seven million restless Californians voted to replace their governor, and once the tectonic plates of this recall-cum-gubernatorial election stopped shifting, the one political monument that I saw lying in pieces was the traditional notion of just who and what constitutes a "moderate." As of Tuesday's reordering in California, I think the definition of political "moderate" has shifted seismically to the right.

[Kay Soze]

Schwarzenegger's election signals a seismic political shift.

For this election, only

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[GeronL]

did they count ALL the votes this time??

what were those final numbers?

[Kay Soze]

The Rev. Zinn says the womanizing stories backfired among Christian voters, who felt it was an over-the-top smear. "The Los Angeles Times did more to get

"Schwarzenegger elected than any single group," says Rev. Zinn."

"...in Tuesday's vote. GOP voters weren't in the least ideological; they were perfect pragmatists.

"And the single-issue litmus test (abortion, gun control, et al.), assumed to be a constant obstacle to GOP success, may also be finished."

[Reagan Man]

A wide ranging article. Pretty good too.

This is what I know. A whole lot of conservative Republicans, who normally would have voted for the conservative candidate in the recall campaign, that being Tom McClintock, instead held their noses and voted for Arnold. If he doesn't get the job done satisfactoriy, it will be the last time a liberal Republican will ever get the majority of conservative Republicans to vote for them. I still think the Cal GOP made a big mistake, but right now they're riding high in the saddle. Let's see what Arnold and the Wilsonites can get accomplished.

[jennyp]

Which is why California's Democrats, rather than govern, will soon decide they simply have to bring Arnold down. If so, Arnold should make sure they do it out in the open. We'll all want to watch this one, too.

Excellent point. Of course the Democrats will try to bring Arnold down. I'll bet they're already seeking the help of Minnesota's Democrats to find out what it took to clip Jesse Ventura's wings. That seems to be their only real hope: That Arnold can be made as ineffective as Jesse Ventura was.

I doubt that they'd try to push Arnold around head-to-head. It's more like chess - or judo. Arnold does need to keep the Dems' attempts at end-running his initiatives out in the open, and he needs to keep the people enraged at the Dems whenever it happens.

[goldstategop]

That's exactly why Arnold is signing Democrats on board so they have a stake in his success and they'll bear the blame for the failure if things don't change for the better in California.

[Nick Danger]

The overturned dumpster of moldy womanizing stories

Wordsmith bump

[Tom D.]

This is not unadultered good news, but it beats the hell out of many of the alternatives.

Query: Would McClintock [absent Arnold in the race] have beaten Davis and Cruz? Perhaps so.

[Nick Danger]

Would McClintock [absent Arnold in the race] have beaten Davis and Cruz? Perhaps so.

Could McClintock possibly have been successful had he won? I doubt it. The Democrats still own the State... they have all the statewide elected officials except Governor, and both houses of the legislature. They would have frustrated a mere mortal Republican at every turn, and the media would have been right there with them, highlighting every McClintock failure and setting the stage for the great Democrat comeback.

Arnold has his own magic. He can go around the media, he can get on Leno.. almost anything he does will be news. If he wants to, he can actually ram through some changes (read: spending cuts) that McClintock never would have been able to. McClintock was one of those hard-hearted Republicans who always wanted a chance to throw widows and orphans into the streets. When Schwarzenegger makes the same cuts, it will all go down like ice cream... because the Dems of terrified of him. At least for a while.

[Brian Allen]

<< A wide ranging article. Pretty good too.

[Most] ... conservative Republicans, who normally would have voted for [A conservative-Republican] candidate in the recall campaign .... instead .... voted for [Now, Governor Swartzenegger.] >>

Translation: Loyal Republicans, who in the past have frequently followed them over cliffs, this time overcame the ideologically-blinded within their ranks and this time observed the Primary Principled Principal Political Profundity that it is FIRST required that you WIN ELECTION.

And that any vote for a sure-fire loser is a vote for the enemy.

Of whose machine-politics camp old-times career-pol, McJeffords, is a long-term career resident.

California is saved.

[Reagan Man]

>>>California is saved.

Only in the movies.