As hard as I try not to post about Schwarzenegger, some of his comments yesterday were noteworthy.
It’s been about two weeks since Arnold announced he wants to be governor. Since then, he’s gone out of his way not to talk about his positions on issues or his ideas for solutions to California’s crises. It’s almost as if he’s hoping no one will notice.
In response to criticisms, Schwarzenegger actually held a press conference yesterday in L.A. for about 200 reporters. Those hoping that maybe the actor had found some tutors and brushed up on some public policy over the last couple of weeks were left disappointed.
Predictably, all of Schwarzenegger’s points were vague and obvious. He said he would cut state spending, but wouldn’t say where, and create jobs, but wouldn’t say how.
So, Arnold, any specifics on the way?
“No,” Schwarzenegger said. “The public doesn’t care about figures. They’ve heard figures for the last five years, figures and graphs and percentages and all this. What people want to hear is, are you willing to make the changes? Are you tough enough? And I am tough enough.”
In other words, Schwarzenegger is running on an intentionally vacuous platform. While some candidates run for high office despite a lack of knowledge and experience (George W., I’m looking at you), Schwarzenegger is running because of his lack of knowledge and experience.
Gray Davis has used facts and figures, so Schwarzenegger will avoid facts and figures. If third graders were the only ones voting in this statewide election, this kind of logic might be effective.
As the Boston Globe explained, Schwarzenegger also said that only a ”typical politician” would say he could come up with responses, two weeks into a campaign, to problems that had taken years to create.
No, Arnold, you’ve got it backwards. Only an ego-driven neophyte would run for governor with no idea how to address problems that have taken years to create.