It’s a shame that Arnie’s reform proposals all flamed-out at the polls yesterday. California desperately needs redistricting, and the other proposals to blunt public employee union influence and balance the budget were commendable. Arnie blew this election by running a shoddy campaign, putting too many things on the ballot, and holding a special election instead of letting the voters deal with his reforms during a high-turnout regular election.
But all is not lost. Dan Walters, the king of California poilitical journalists, writes a prescription:
The final weeks of the campaign gave flashes of the more thoughtful approach that would better serve his – and Californians’ – interests. He performed well during his unscripted television appearances, making cogent arguments for reform. He should continue in that vein, laying out the issues and the contradictions inherent in governing such a complex state without sugar-coating, and beginning the laborious task of rebuilding the trust that Californians invested him in 2003.
That said, he need not surrender to the forces of the status quo who apparently prevailed in Tuesday’s election. The status quo is not acceptable. The state budget process is screwed up, the gerrymandered legislative districts create an undemocratic and unresponsive Legislature and the public education system is performing poorly. One might fault Schwarzenegger’s prescriptions – and his campaign for them was poorly conceived and executed – but the issues themselves are very legitimate.
Schwarzenegger, having stumbled so badly, may be tempted to back away from confronting the status quo and do some face-saving small beer deals with the Legislature to rebuild his popularity and win re-election, much as he did in the first months of his governorship. That, however, would be doing himself and the state an immense disservice because California cannot afford to delay addressing pressing matters that have been ignored for far too long.
A straight-talking, humbled Schwarzenegger would lay out the issues that need attention and offer specific and credible proposals to deal with them, no matter what the reaction would be from those inside the Capitol who are more interested in playing partisan or ideological games than taking care of the public’s business.
Schwarzenegger’s political internship is over; it’s time to get serious.
It’s move forward with reforms or choke in the status quo for California.