[Mb-civic] Arnold's Drifting Audience - George F. Will - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Arnold's Drifting Audience

By George F. Will
Thursday, September 22, 2005; Page A25

SACRAMENTO -- His political strength hemorrhaging from multiple wounds 
-- some self-inflicted, others the result of a barrage of negative 
advertising -- the governor, his job approval rating below 40 percent, 
is nevertheless ebullient. He cannot be pretending. He is not that good 
an actor.

Arnold Schwarzenegger -- tanned, tan suit, open-collared shirt, running 
shoes -- will run for reelection in 2006, but first, he says cheerfully, 
these next seven weeks will be "the rebuttal" to the ad assault from 
government employee unions. He wants voters to pass ballot measures to 
make teachers wait five years rather than two before achieving tenure, a 
lifetime job entitlement; to restrict the growth of government spending 
by giving governors greater latitude for cutting it; and to give a panel 
of retired judges power to draw legislative districts.
But he is a prisoner of the populism -- government by gusts of 
manufactured public opinion -- that propelled him to this city. None of 
his three proposals currently has the support of a majority of an 
electorate that is weary of elections. In just 34 months they have 
reelected Gray Davis governor, recalled him and replaced him with 
Schwarzenegger, then selected 53 members of Congress and 100 state 
legislators in districts so meticulously gerrymandered to prevent change 
that party control remained unchanged in all 153 contests.

Schwarzenegger remains confident of his ability to mesmerize an 
audience, but this audience -- the vast, distracted electorate -- did 
not buy a ticket for this November's movie. It is being thrust at them, 
and he is not the anti-political novelty he was when he was elected.

But if he imperfectly understands his problems, he does understand a 
large part of the state's. Asked what has most surprised him in the 23 
months since he was elected, he instantly replies: "The extent to which 
public employees unions are running the state" and how "blatant" their 
control is. He disgustedly says that meetings with the teachers union 
are never about children, they are entirely about adults -- about 
costing the state $300 million by ensuring that union workers will mow 
schools' lawns and fix schools' plumbing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/21/AR2005092102506.html
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