OK, maybe I’ve been a little harsh with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — four words that I still don’t think sound right together. I don’t think much of his agenda, intellect, Enron ties, experience, or abilities, but I’m beginning to think his ideology really isn’t half-bad.
Newsweek reported this week, for example, that Schwarzenegger rejected comparisons between him and Bush, while suggesting that Bush will be on his own if he plans to campaign in California.
In an interview with Newsweek, Schwarzenegger sympathized with the toll Iraq has taken on Bush’s popularity and said comparing him with the president was “a big mistake.” But he also cautioned he can do little to improve Bush’s standing. “It is totally up to him and his team,” says Schwarzenegger.
He may not have any experience in government at any level, but I get the impression that Schwarzenegger has already learned all about the fine art of triangulation.
Schwarzenegger and Bush haven’t spoken to each other since March — and Bush has no plans to visit California any time soon…. Schwarzenegger’s advisers say he has little patience for White House strategist Karl Rove, whom the governor blames for tepid support in the recall — and for not taking seriously Schwarzenegger’s pet cause: after-school programs.
[…]
Schwarzenegger has been coy about how much of his star power he plans to lend to the convention. He will “most likely” be there, he says, before adding, “with great enthusiasm.” But aides are also already arranging his schedule so that he can claim to be busy in Sacramento if they sense the convention is adopting a harsh partisan tone that could diminish Schwarzenegger’s appeal in California.
Better yet, Schwarzenegger sounded like a pretty moderate Dem in describing his approach to government to government to the Sacramento Bee (via Pandagon).
Bee: The campaign was so fast and so strange that it’s like you never actually were asked to define your ideology, your political ideology. What is your sense, from your experience and your instincts, about the proper role of government to play in society?
Schwarzenegger: I think in general I would say that government’s role is to assist people, and not to be an obstacle. And, you know, there’s a fine line, as there is with everything. I think that if you have a government that feels like they should be involved in every step of your way, like it was under socialism in Austria, or in general under socialism, then you become kind of an obstacle for moving people, inspiring people to move ahead. You maybe take care of a certain segment of society, but in general you don’t really support the whole state, or the whole nation, to move forward.
So, what I’m trying to do is — and what I always saw was — there is a middle ground between what Austria did and what, for instance, a very conservative government would do. Where they say, you know, limit it down to the minimum of the government.
So let me get this straight. A popular Republican governor is working on a “middle ground” agenda between Austrian socialism and, say, Tom DeLay-style conservatism? It’s almost as if Schwarzenegger isn’t an ideological moderate; he’s a liberal.
Can you imagine the reaction if John Kerry said he wanted to find a compromise between a socialist and a conservative government? It’d be fodder for Bush campaign ads between now and the election.