The state of California

Unless things change quickly, Arnold is pretty much done in the state of California. While he seems to have bottomed out his approval rating (at 40%), that bottom seems fairly week as his big agenda item, the special election, is supported by a whopping 33% of the people. Californians may want what Arnold has to offer, but they all seem to agree that wasting $80 million dollars on something that even his hand picked Secretary of State admits is a bad idea is, well, a bad idea.

And what has the Governor done to try and combat these numbers? He's gone out of state to raise money to support his initiatives. Not to raise money to fund the election, mind you, but pimped himself out to GOP faces in Florida, Illinois, and Texas to support his own goals. And who, in the publics eyes, has the best of California at heart than the people of Chicago, Dallas, and a few cities in Florida.

I still remember when Arnold came to power and said he wouldn't be beholden to special interest groups. Now he's raised more money than Gray Davis could've ever hoped to without Gray appearing in a Hollywood blockbuster of his own. And that's all Arnold seems to know how to do anymore.

Meanwhile the masses are gathering in protest with clever signs, and newspaper editorials point out the inaneness of what he proposes:

The third measure is designed to prohibit granting public school teachers tenure until they serve a district for five years, up from two.

Like so many of Schwarzenegger's "reforms," this is a slogan masquerading as policy - and bad policy, at that.

(snip)

California school districts, which already face huge problems in recruiting and keeping faculty, plainly haven't been clamoring for a tool to help them dump young teachers even faster.

Heh.

Why, though, is this such a big deal? Both the public and the papers initially saw Arnold as the action hero that would come in and save California from the End of Days. Now, it seems both groups are content to count down as Arnold instead hastens the state toward them.

I feel I should point out that Ezra Klein has decided Warren Beatty is the answer to our problems. While Warren would seem to have a better shot at it than Phil Angelides because of name recognition and built in popularity, I'm not sure another actor turned politician is the answer (although the speech Ezra links to is pretty good) That said, I wish Ezra all the best in his efforts to draft Warren and look forward to hearing more from both of them as 2006 approaches.