Wed, October 8, 2003
Why Arnold Won
The Republican right really wants Alec Baldwin out of this country!
It's a disappointing thing for our country that Californians have turned out in near-record numbers to recall Governor Gray Davis, a man they re-elected apathetically a few months ago. It's unfortunate that a dangerous precedent has been established in terms of further partisan bickering at the expense of the democratic process. It's a shame that the Republican party has managed to buy their 2004 presidential candidate some help in a major state. But most of all, it's frustrating how it happened. Since March, the word "democracy" has lost its meaning abroad, as the Bush administration used it to defend their intentions in Iraq. (So, we're to understand that if only there were free elections, Saddam wouldn't have been able to fly his planes into our buildings?) Now, it's officially lost its meaning at home. The majority of the popular vote can't elect a president, and a governor who's re-elected by his constituents isn't allowed to stay in office.
The recall election was a popularity contest, and Schwarzenegger's staff wisely treated it like one. If you paid any attention to the campaign or to the one political debate in which Schwarzenegger deigned to appear, you're aware that Arnold as a candidate didn't make it a priority to have a clear position on major issues or answer specific questions. Sure, he spouted the party line about rolling back the so-called "car tax," an auto registration fee that Governor Davis's critics have pounced upon. And he said (surprise!) that California needed to reduce unemployment and turn the economy around, leaving out the fact that his friends in the Bush administration and the energy industry bear major responsibility for the state's current financial straits. But beyond those "gimmes," he made a point to avoid espousing a specific stance.
Because Schwarzenegger knows, and his election proves beyond any doubt, that politics in the present era is not about answering specific questions – it's about having a theme song. It's not about debates, it's about sound bites. Experience and policy don't enter into voters' decision-making. It's a matter of name recognition. Frenzied momentum was Arnold's friend; his quick two-month campaign allowed his staff to steamroll forward through any hurdle. His personal wealth and hearty campaign contributions allowed him to run television ads non-stop, making the recall seem like a fun and necessary diversion that all Californians should hop aboard. No time for thinking! Cal-ee-FOR-nee-ya is finally ours!
Lest my frothing rant sound like unfounded speculation, I can quote local TV political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jaffe, who says that Schwarzenegger's advisers told her they decided early to keep him "above the political debate" because they felt the election wasn't about "policy wonking." (Policy in politics?! Pshaw!) Jaffe described Schwarzenegger's appeal as an "unidentifiable leadership quality," and said that in the polls she analyzed, voters were unaware of his stance on issues, but didn't care.
Clearly not. Of the little that we were able to find out about Arnold during his short nine-week campaign, most of it has been vague promises about economic renewal based on well-worn statistics or vague non-denials of allegations ranging from sexual harassment to meeting with Bush administration energy advisers during the deregulation that seeded the California electricity crisis. But vague was okay by California's voters! As Schwarzenegger could be heard to remark, "We're mad as hell [about something], and we're not going to take [whatever it is] any more!" Historical in so many ways, this election will go down in the books as the first where sky-high voter turnout actually coincided with sky-high voter apathy.
Who knows what happens now? As a result of the hustled special election, California's record-challenging voter turnout was forced to find its way to a reduced number of polling places, making access and confusion a problem. In our increasingly litigation-based election process, these issues may bloom into lawsuits on behalf of voters unable to cast their ballots. Also, Davis indicated that many Democrats had promised to mount another recall petition in retaliation if Schwarzenegger should win office. (At first, I opposed this idea, since my opposition to the recall was out of disgust for its obfuscation of the electoral process; but now I realize that there comes a point where you can no longer take the high road. You have to stand up to the bully.)
Watching Arnold take the stand after an introduction from Jay Leno (or, as I like to call him, the Scourge of Late Night), then manhandle his wife before delivering a phonetically enunciated treatise on bipartisanship (don't worry, the irony was lost on his crowd of deranged supporters), I really can't wait for the next recall.
© onebee · all rights reserved
Purple Reign — Wed, 10/8/03 12:43pm
Don't patronize us. We know the economy turned under Clinton, and took a huge hit from 9/11. We're not dumb. I'm not just saying that because I voted for George Bush; unfortunately for the "Look How He Screwed Up The Economy" crowd, the performance of the stock market is something you can actually look up (and I did: link)
I know it's a simplification to say "see, it started going bad with Clinton," but it's also a simplification to say "see, Bush screwed up Clinton's great economy."
Bee Boy — Wed, 10/8/03 1:48pm
Right, which is why I avoided saying "see, Bush screwed up Clinton's great economy."
We can all agree that the economy in general (or the DJIA as an indicator) is a cyclical thing. However, my assertion – which I will defend to the death – is that in a period of normal economic contraction, Bush's team worsened the situation rather than maintaining or improving it. The economy was cycling downward for many reasons (chiefly the inability of the market to sustain rampant speculative investment in the Internet industry, followed closely by some very tall buildings cycling downward themselves), and the Bush administration worsened an already weakening spot in the cycle. (And that foundering national economy is inherited by the governor of each and every state.)
Penn Jillette (the taller, louder half of comic/illusionist duo Penn & Teller) describes the way "faith healers" work, as part of his argument to debunk the "paranormal" industry's fleecing of credulous innocents. "In any illness, or any situation at all, three things will happen. It will get better, it will stay the same, or it will get worse. The faith healer's treatment doesn't affect this cycle, they just tell their patient 'we cured it,' 'we arrested it,' or 'we got there too late.'"
My assertion is that the Bush administration has cried "we got there too late" while simultaneously sabotaging the economy with their slap-on-the-wrist approach to corporate responsibility, tax rollbacks for the rich, and focus on foreign-policy smokescreens instead of sound economic leadership. Two things are needed to improve the American economy: confidence and investment. If Bush had doggedly rooted out terrorism as he promised instead of making ceremonial mincemeat out of fabricated evildoers, perceived security in this country would improve and businesses would feel safe enough to start hiring people. If Bush hadn't handed a massive tax cut to the wealthiest one percent of citizens, the government would have enough money to invest in the necessary programs to improve healthcare, control unemployment, and stimulate business growth.
Also, Arnold hasn't responded to allegations that he met with energy industry leaders back when his buddy Pete Wilson was deregulating the industry. Gray Davis inherited the resulting nightmarish price-gouging and his detractors cried "see, Davis screwed up Wilson's great economy." If you can say "see, it started going bad with Clinton," I can say "see, it started going bad with Wilson." And now the state has re-elected a Wilsonite.
(Oh, so much politics! I can't wait till this site gets back to the important stuff... "Survivor" coverage!)
Bee Boy — Wed, 10/31/07 3:55pm
I reread this excellent post today because I linked it from today's column about Arnold's presidential hopes. It strikes me that today's field of two dozen 2008 presidential contenders has failed to process the key lesson from Schwarzenegger's victory. They should be going for short, glitzy campaigns with little substance, rather than two-year slogs with little substance.
I know Al Gore isn't dumb enough to run next year, but if he were going to (or if anyone I like were going to), I think he'd do himself a favor by entering the race around the time of the third or fourth primary.