Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

This was a period marked with increasing conflict among California's disparate elements.  It was manifested frequently by contretemps involving the executive branch, the governor, and the two bodies of the legislature, the Senate and Assembly.  The truck driver told all within listening range that the first time the legislature spoke a disparaging word that Governor Schwarzenegger will "kick ass."

It was a scenario straight out of Hollywood, where Arnold gained fame and fortune by flexing his muscles and polishing off opposition in high tech romps.  With Arnold it was "Hasta la vista, baby" just as a few years earlier Clint Eastwood as Inspector Harry Callahan of the San Francisco Police Department settled matters with criminal elements by snarling, "Go ahead and make my day."  It is worthy noting that Americans frustrated by the result of the Vietnam War were provided with a Hollywood style catharsis in which Sylvester Stallone as Rambo returned to Vietnam to rescue service colleagues left behind and mopped up on the enemy.  

The Schwarzenegger myth was allowed to prevail over the tough realities of governing America's largest state amid its multiple diversities.  The same nitpickers who went after Bill Clinton and Al Gore hammer and tongue, often confusing myth with hard facts, gave the movie actor a pass during the campaign when it came to insistence on his making a case for election.  Softball schmooze sessions with Chris Matthews and Sean Hannity were trumpeted as interview successes.    

The first weekend of the campaign, as Arnold sought to make his case amid the onslaught of publicity following his announcement on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, he agreed to do an interview with Diane Sawyer of CBS.  When she asked about the problems of the California economy, which Arnold sought to dump on the doorstep of Governor Gray Davis, being related to the national economy and the Republican Administration of George W. Bush, he responded that this was an "apples and oranges" question and that he was focusing his campaign effort exclusively on California, indicating that the national economic picture and his friend George Bush were off limits.

What if Clinton or Gore had ever delivered such a response?  There was no such thing as an economic ripple effect?  Arnold was never challenged by any major mainstream source that I read or heard.  His wife, Maria Shriver, announced following that weekend that her husband would be limiting his interview appearances and had suffered in the Sawyer interview as well as other appearances from a lack of sleep.  Translation: From that point forward Fox News would be a welcome sight.

It was revealed that Arnold had sat in, along with political ally Richard Riordan, former Los Angeles Mayor, in a meeting with Ken Lay.  The correlation was made between California's economic nosedive and the greedy pressure push in the power sphere by Lay's Enron operatives.  So what was discussed in the meeting and why was Arnold Schwarzenegger there?  Arnold explained that he was a busy man who attended many meetings.  He could therefore not be expected to remember every one.  Now was this meeting not just a tad more important than a ribbon cutting occasion or bodybuilding seminar?  The bottom line was that Arnold could not remember and he was not seriously challenged on this point by the mainstream media.  

As for the race itself, it was expected by some that Arnold in his effort to wrest the governing mantle from Davis would have to go toe to toe with the man he sought to replace and explain why he was a sounder alternative, in the process stating his case and revealing how the two differed in approach.  Such an expectation was unmet.  Could Arnold meet a lower bar by engaging in debate with other candidates apart from Davis?  

This was also a non-starter.  Arnold ultimately appeared, but under special circumstances.  Arnold's protective advisers agreed to allow their candidate to appear, but only if all questions were submitted in advance.  He was an actor after all, he was used to reading scripts, and all elements of the unexpected were removed while Arnold's script recitation was actually termed a "debate," which was quite a stretch.  Again Arnold wiggled away.  

In the race's closing stages the Los Angeles Times reported disclosures of women alleging that a groping Schwarzenegger had fondled them.  While wife Maria insisted that she knew her man better than anyone, Arnold promised that after the election he would appoint a special panel to discuss all allegations.  After he scored his major triumph one lone reporter asked Schwarzenegger about his promise at a post-election news conference.  "Old business," Arnold snapped irritably.  "No it's not," the reporter responded, but was quickly drowned out in a chorus of chatter by the swirl of media figures in the room.  So much for Arnold's first promise as governor-elect.    

Fair, an independent think tank that investigates the media, released a study following the California recall election that revealed the degree of Schwarzenegger favoritism during the campaign.  Schwarzenegger began the campaign trailing California Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante in the polls, but not to worry.  Bustamante became a forgotten figure while Schwarzenegger, bolstered mightily by his wife Maria's contacts as an NBC television correspondent, received the lion's share of coverage.