Exit the Governator, Enter the Girlyman
It turns out that, for the Last Action Hero, real-life politics isn't like action movies after all, and his once-solemnly-proclaimed center-right populism is equally as ephemeral:
Never let it be said, though, that I failed to give Ah-nuld his due. When he announced his gubernatorial candidacy two and a half years ago, I predicted this very sort of outcome, only from the day he assumed office. In that I underestimated the man. While no Ronald Reagan, and never claiming to be, he did fight the good fight for far longer than I ever would have dreamed. That my original dubious prediction was finally vindicated is more than a little sad, but still inevitable.
What puts Schwarzenegger's re-election in real jeopardy, though, is precisely that he is morphing into just another politician who values staying in office above whatever philosophical reasons he originally had for seeking it. After all, what made his candidacy so attractive in the first place was that he was a man already rich and famous who didn't need politics as a career or a permanent source of ego-stroking, who wanted to go to Sacramento to do away with "business as usual" and do battle with the status quo practitioners of that corrupt, incompetent mentality (i.e. the Democrats). In other words, he was that rare pol who truly was an "outsider" and could truly be a populist because he had nothing to lose by fighting all-out and to the end for the true "interests of the people."
But not anymore. Having been dealt a serious setback by the Democrat establishment, rather than continue the fight and let the voters decide whether they truly want change or the equivalent of a Gray Davis restoration, Ah-nuld is assimilating into that establishment instead. He's becoming the gelded poodle of Gollyfornia Donks. He's becoming one of the very "girly-men" he once rightfully and hilariously lampooned.
As John Connor's designated protector in Terminator II, Schwarzenegger's terminator character was programmed to carry out his mission at all costs until he either succeeded or was destroyed. In the role of the Governator, it's like he threw Connor into the T-1000's waiting arms and then threw himself at its feet and begged sobbingly for mercy and forgiveness.
To borrow a line from an unforgettable villain of another movie franchise, "So, he is a coward after all...."
A politically weakened Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sought Thursday to move beyond his failed special election proposals, urging lawmakers to work together and pledging that he had "learned my lesson."And as an observer sitting a thousand miles or so up the coast, let me say that Ah-nuld's message is loud and clear as well: "I'm sorry I tried to be a real Republican, and I want you to re-elect me in November, so I'll be Gray Davis on steroids - I promise!" Hell, he's already hired his predecessor's deputy chief of staff to run his administration; this speech just made it official.
In his third State of the State speech, Schwarzenegger asked Californians to put behind them a year filled with acrimony over the election and devoid of significant political accomplishment. It was his first statewide speech since voters rejected all four of his ballot measures on November 8.
"I have absorbed my defeat. I have learned my lesson. And the people, who always have the last word, sent a clear message - cut the warfare, cool the rhetoric, find common ground and fix the problems together," Schwarzenegger said before a packed Assembly chamber. "To my fellow Californians, I say, 'Message received."'
Never let it be said, though, that I failed to give Ah-nuld his due. When he announced his gubernatorial candidacy two and a half years ago, I predicted this very sort of outcome, only from the day he assumed office. In that I underestimated the man. While no Ronald Reagan, and never claiming to be, he did fight the good fight for far longer than I ever would have dreamed. That my original dubious prediction was finally vindicated is more than a little sad, but still inevitable.
What puts Schwarzenegger's re-election in real jeopardy, though, is precisely that he is morphing into just another politician who values staying in office above whatever philosophical reasons he originally had for seeking it. After all, what made his candidacy so attractive in the first place was that he was a man already rich and famous who didn't need politics as a career or a permanent source of ego-stroking, who wanted to go to Sacramento to do away with "business as usual" and do battle with the status quo practitioners of that corrupt, incompetent mentality (i.e. the Democrats). In other words, he was that rare pol who truly was an "outsider" and could truly be a populist because he had nothing to lose by fighting all-out and to the end for the true "interests of the people."
But not anymore. Having been dealt a serious setback by the Democrat establishment, rather than continue the fight and let the voters decide whether they truly want change or the equivalent of a Gray Davis restoration, Ah-nuld is assimilating into that establishment instead. He's becoming the gelded poodle of Gollyfornia Donks. He's becoming one of the very "girly-men" he once rightfully and hilariously lampooned.
As John Connor's designated protector in Terminator II, Schwarzenegger's terminator character was programmed to carry out his mission at all costs until he either succeeded or was destroyed. In the role of the Governator, it's like he threw Connor into the T-1000's waiting arms and then threw himself at its feet and begged sobbingly for mercy and forgiveness.
To borrow a line from an unforgettable villain of another movie franchise, "So, he is a coward after all...."
posted by JASmius at 9:39 PM
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