I’m Not Caught Up In Arnold-Mania

08 Aug, 2003 by John Hawkins

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Everywhere you look on the net there are people who are all jazzed up about Arnold Schwarzenegger getting in the governors race in California. Bush says he’d be a great governor, Katie Couric is pulling out the long knives and the editorials are everywhere.

Despite all this excitement, enthusiasm, and energy, I have to admit that I’m ambivalent about Arnold getting into the race. For one thing, no matter how popular Arnold is, he may be mathematically eliminated right from the beginning if there are more serious candidates on the GOP side than the Democratic side. Although we’ll know a little more once all the final candidates are set and the real polling begins, Bill Simon & Peter Ueberroth are going to split the GOP vote and could guarantee that a Democratic victory right from the start.

Also, while I have been a fan of Arnold’s movies for a long time, his politics leave something to be desired. At best he’s a “Bloomberg Republican”, a RINO who from what I know about him has probably had his pants around his ankles about as often as Bill Clinton. In fact, if you looked at things Arnold believes in, he probably has more in common with an Al Gore than someone like Reagan or Tom Delay. Given that, it’s hard for me to get all fired up about him taking over in California.

Moreover, you have to consider the shape California is in and the fact that Democrats are running the state from top to bottom. Taking over now is like becoming the captain of the Titanic five minutes after it hit an iceberg when you know your entire crew is knocking holes in the lifeboats and planning to blame you when the ship goes down.

So while I wouldn’t mind seeing Gray Davis get “terminated”, my heart doesn’t exactly start wildly palpitating at the idea of Arnold getting in the Cali governor’s mansion. If he wins, great, if not, no skin off my nose — especially since this is a run-off election.