Arnold Schwarzenegger: Knuckleheaded politics

At a Beverly Hills victory party on election night, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, crowed that he liked nothing more than an election. "When the people flex their muscles," he declared in the now compulsory reference to his body-building, action-hero past, "then the state gets much stronger."

Come Wednesday, Schwarzenegger had good reason to feel pleased with himself. While the presidential election was a distant irrelevance for California - the result may matter but the biggest state in the country had little influence on the outcome - voters did have a chance to "flex their muscles" on a variety of propositions, ranging from medical insurance to gambling to stem cell research.
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But while Arnie could use stem cell research to contrast himself with the nation's faith-based president and burnish his liberal credentials, he also needed to talk to his Republican base. The governor may have campaigned for Bush in Ohio four days before the election, but Republican voters in Orange County still needed something to cheer about.

So Schwarzenegger took the easy course: he picked the most emotive proposition he could find - the attempt to reform California's draconian three strikes law.
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It was law'n'order populism of the most unabashed sort. Schwarzenegger himself came close to admitting that the reform had become a political football when he said a day ago: "If there's something wrong with it that you know needs to be adjusted, then we should do that." That he did not have the courage to say that before Tuesday's vote reflects poorly on a governor who prides himself on his bipartisanship, and reveals him as just another cigar-lounge Republican.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1344566,00.html