19 AUGUST, 2003
The orgy of campaigning - Now That's Entertainment . . .
By Joseph Planta
(This piece originally was published on Now That's Entertainment . . . )
In California, they're preparing for the orgy of campaigning and rampant public attention that will accompany their upcoming recall vote this fall. Democratic Governor Gray Davis is fighting for his political life, having to re-fight an election he won fair and square just last November. Opportunists at the Californian Republican party have lobbied for Davis's ouster and now there's a recall election he's gotta fight.
It'll be a two part ballot that Californians will have to wade through this October. Part I asks if they'd like to recall Governor Davis, yes or no. If the majority is yes, then Part II's result will kick in, the winner derived from a lengthy list of wannabes. Anyone and everyone from Larry Flynt to Gary Coleman, Arianna Huffington to Gallagher, and of course the real newsmaker, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
It wouldn't be the first time that Californians would elect an actor, should the Terminator star take up residence in Sacramento. Remember Ronald Reagan? Unlike the Gipper, however, Schwarzenegger has done precious little in terms of public policy or political advocacy.
Gray Davis by all reasonable and objective accounts has done a rather poor job. On top of it all, rather than do the job he was elected to do, he's distracted with the fight of his political life, to save his hide. His own party has slowly reduced its support, what with his lieutenant Cruz Bustamante campaigning for the job also. Californians by and large do not approve of the job the governor is doing, and with the personality of a door knob, he's calling in the big Democratic guns, Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Were I an American, I suppose I would be of the Republican persuasion. I like the group of Republican politicians over all those of a Democrat stripe. And though I would by and large support Republicans, I think Gray Davis was duly elected barely one year ago and thereby should be permitted to serve out the balance of his mandate. Recall and other similar initiatives are awfully noble and tend to generally increase democracy at face value. However recall as we are seeing in California, and have seen in British Columbia, is often abused by political opportunists who are willing to overturn the democratic will of the majority in order to re-fight elections for no other reason than political expediency. I am not a fan of recall initiatives. I believe the people should endure the madness that they elect. There is of course an insurance policy, and that is exercised every four or five years and only then should that be relied upon.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is hoping to parlay movie success and celebrity recognition into votes, thereby propelling him into the governor's mansion. The Republican establishment in America's most populous state are backing him because they want power -- plain and simple. They're bitter that Bill Simon couldn't get the job done last fall. Schwarzenegger for all his lack of political moxie, tries to make up for it with firebrand populism. He fails miserably though. The entire recall effort is populism gone wrong, as Jeffrey Simpson rightly opined recently. When Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy on the Jay Leno Tonight Show, he made the prescient comment, that Californians should be "given the ballot" of recall candidates and be allowed to vote for whom they want. Alas, someone should point out to Schwarzenegger that Californians did just that barely a year ago, electing Gray Davis.
A thorny issue in California at the moment is the paid family leave law. Asked whether he favoured it, Schwarzenegger was equivocal at best: "I . . . I will have to get into that. I mean, because you know, I'm very much for families, I'm very much for children and children's issues and all that stuff. I think that the children should have the first call in our treasury. This is the . . . the most precious resource that we have. We have to think about the future of the state. Children are the most important thing, and we have to help families."
Huh? Clearly he's sincere about children, but what is also clear is that he's got a lot of work to do to brush up on the pressing issues of the day in his state. It's fine and dandy, he's willing to fix what's wrong, but how will he do that? What's his platform? It's great Warren Buffett and Rob Lowe are on board, part of his team, but what will they do. He has the apparent ability to come to the views he supposedly holds, at the precise time his handlers's polls say they're the ones to promote.
One hopes Davis is returned, so that Californians can realise the sincere flaws in their absurd recall system. Republicans in California deserve to fail. And most of all Schwarzenegger should stick to making decisions he's equipped to make, namely whether to get that bikini wax or not. God help Californians.
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©2003 Joseph Planta.