August 07, 2003
Now we've got a horse race
Now that Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced he's running for governor we've got a serious contest going, which only happens in California when pop culture and politics are fully overlapped. Arnie's being in the race means that people will get excited over it, feeling like they now have to take a position on his candidacy one way or another instead of going on ignoring politics as we obsess over the latest movie release, whether SPF-20 really makes you safe, and whether botox is really worth the bother. We live in a world of trivia and pop, and only care about politics when it comes into this world.
While he's never held office, Arnie's clearly been planning a run for many years, maybe as long as he's been married to Maria Shriver. He's got his own set of consultants already, enough money to finance his own campaign (if he needs to) and a good, positive, and well-informed message: "Gray sold California to the special interests (read: unions) and I'm here to take it back. I don't care what you do in your private life, and I don't want to impose my values on you. I want a state government that works and doesn't break the backs of the average taxpaying citizen, and a society that offers opportunity and hope as it did to me as a humble but legal immigrant." Echoes of "shining city on a hill".
The best outcome from all this would be a whole generation of Californians getting turned-on to politics, at least a little. Increased awareness of what goes on in Sacramento automatically translates into more rational politics, mainly because it couldn't get any worse. LINK