California voted to recall their governor and replace him with Ahnold. I could moan and complain about this incredible turn of events, but I actually see a bit of a silver lining in this cloud.
1) I think Arnold won because so many people are dissatisfied with career politicians and the typical Republican vs. Democrat world view. I think many people thought electing another politician was not the answer. This may be a sign of a major change in politics where people will be more willing to vote for a candidate who doesn’t fall in lockstep with the party line.
2) I think the public was very turned off by the gotcha factor in the Ahnold-the-Groper allegations. Especially since many people stood by and defended Bill Clinton when Flowers, Jones, and all those other women had accusations against him. Maybe this means that a politician’s dalliances and personal life may be less of a hindrance in campaigning, and therefore more qualified but not-perfect candidates may run.
3) I think Ahnold won a lot of people over by being sincere (in a sense) when confronted about his gang bang story and his serial groper story. While not diving in to answer every single allegation, he basically said, “look, I’ve been a rowdy party boy in my life, and I’m sorry if I hurt anyone.” No lies, no deflection, no spin. And people down deep know that the Hollywood movie star on the set is not the sexual harassment equivalent of the boss withholding promotions for blowjobs.
(Did he harass some of these women? Yes, I’m pretty sure of it. But there’s a different dynamic at work for a celebrity. In sports, music, and movies, we have the groupie phenomenon. There’s women who throw themselves at these celebrities and make themselves available in every way. For every one of those women who complained about Ahnold grabbing their ass, there’s forty-nine who put that ass out there, expected it to be grabbed, and laughed and had a flirtatious good time with Ahnold. If anything, Ahnold was guilty of mis-reading good girls as groupies. Besides, a true good girl slaps Ahnold in the face or says something about the groping THEN, not ten, twenty, or thirty years later. I think people have a clear concept about this, and realized that what’s OK on a rowdy movie set is not what’s going to be OK in the California statehouse.)
4) But the best outcome of this election may be the dissolution of the Religious Right as a power base for the Republicans. I saw it in Dana Carvey when he told Bill Maher, “yeah, I’m voting for Arnold – he’s a fiscal conservative and a social liberal – how could I resist that?” This may be the moment when Republicans get back to true conservatism – keeping the government out of the boardrooms AND the bedrooms of America!
“Radical” Russ — of course the downside is, a la Bush and Schwarzenegger, that a brain trust with an agenda can offer up a telegenic, affable talking head as their public face, and the public will demand no real intelligence, policy, or details from that face…
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