One, on the day the campaign was announced, Arnold said he was rich enough to pay for it himself, would not need the assistance of special interests or others and therefore would not be beholden to others. Since then he’s collected as much, or more, in donations than the next closest candidate.
Two, he has criticised Bustamante consistently for accepting campaign contributions from Indian tribes which cross, or at least evade, the lines. So then he skirted, or evaded, campaign finance rules by going to a bank for a loan (to the tune of a few million dollars), and lent it to his campaign.
Three, after taking continual criticism for his (perceived) attitude towards women, when six women came forward to the press with accounts of having been groped on various movie sets over the years, he apologized. His campaign managers are trying to spin this as fantasies dreamed up by Democratic Party operatives but then why did he apologize and promise that his attitude to women has changed, matured?
Four, after much criticism for not providing specifics on how his stated goals for the government would be reached, he gave us a ten point plan. Unfortunately the plan reads like a fantasy since whoever wrote it is completely oblivious of legal and political realities. For instance, one point is rolling back the recent increase in car registration fees but that cannot be done by executive order and will require legislative approval and, perhaps more importantly, would require finding $4.2 BILLION in some combination of spending cuts or revenue increases.
Five, Schwarzenegger has spoke often of his ability to get things done and that he knows how to run a business, but for all the rhetoric of candidates and pundits who think that government is, or should be, just like a business, it isn’t. Command and control works fairly well in a corporation, especially smaller businesses like the real estate companies in which he’s had a hand, but state government requires cooperation from many other people to get anything done. Just passing a bill requires the agreement of several dozen legislators.
So Arnie, grow up. Give up. Drop out of the race now in favor of, say, a real politician like Tom McClintock and go back to the drawing board. Maybe the short campaign season this year looked like an easy pass to Sacramento but you obviously need more time to understand and prepare for this job.
BillSaysThis 