Can Schwarzenegger Be the GOP's Cameron?
Arnold Schwarzenegger has played some great characters. John Matrix in Commando. Dutch in Predator. Conan in Conan the Barbarian. The Terminator in Terminator. But can he play the role of David Cameron, the green-tinged British Tory leader, in today's Republican Party, particularly on economic policy? He's sure trying to:
The Republican idea is a great idea, but we can't go and get stuck with just the right wing. Let's let the party come all the way to the center.... Let's invade and let's cross over that [political] center. The issues that they're talking about? Let them be our issues, and let the party be known for that.
A Schwarzeneggerian-style president would, one could imagine, increase spending on education, ramp up aid to Africa, welcome illegal immigrants, and create a new healthcare entitlement. But President Bush has already done all that stuff. It was called compassionate conservatism. The only issue where Bush has deviated from what Schwarzenegger is pushing is on the issue of climate change. And John McCain aims to rectify that with his cap-and-trade plan that's little different than what Democrats are calling for.
Interestingly, Cameron has started to focus less on green issues—having established his bona fides on the environment—and more on traditional conservative goals such as lower taxes and smaller government. (Maybe he's seen British polls that show voters skeptical of paying higher taxes to combat climate change, thinking it is just an excuse for a government money grab.) This from the Herald, Scotland's largest newspaper:
David Cameron picked up the mantle of Margaret Thatcher yesterday, echoing the former Prime Minister's speeches to signal that a Conservative government would lower taxes and cut government spending. Quoting directly from Margaret Thatcher's 1979 pre-election promise of a return to "good Conservative principles of good housekeeping", Mr. Cameron claimed that under Gordon Brown, Britain had "reached the limits of acceptable taxation and borrowing".
Tags: Great Britain | economics | Republicans | Arnold Schwarzenegger | environment | David Cameron
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Reader Comments
Laaz of CA,
If you think that Reagan governed from the center, then you are gravely mistaken. You think supply-side, trickle down economics is a center-right policy? How about "peace through strength"? Yes, on some issues (such as Social Security), Reagan did seek political compromise, but on many of his other proposals (economics, foreign policy, taxes, defense spending) he was squarely conservative.
Schwarzenegger needs rebranding in California
Leading commentators on the California budget mess have a rebranding idea for Schwarzenegger: EX-GOVERNOR. Google "Dan Walters" and "Sacramento Bee" or "Daniel Weintraub" and "Sacramento Bee".
The judgment of citizens in California is that Schwarzenegger has been a massive failure as governor and his image is turning into something worse, if you can imagine it. He's gaining the reputation of as something of a joke, a lightweight, a fraud -- a man of gimmicks.
And that fact that he commutes almost daily on a private jet from Sacramento to Los Angeles while pushing legislation increasing taxes and regulations on the family car in order to "end global warming" makes most folks think the biggest warming problem in California is the evident over heating of Schwarzenegger's soft brain tissue.
Probably not gonna happen
Word on the street here in Hollywood is Arnold has found the process of governing the ungovernable extremely frustrating and has no aspirations beyond the Governor's office. Good or bad? I'm not sure.
As to the guy who's angry at him for governing from the center, Heard Fareed Zacharia on the radio today making an excellent point about redistricting making seats so safe that the only pressure comes from the extremes of both parties, so now our lawmakers govern from the extremes in, rather than from the center out (which was Reagan's approach, let's remember). I think he's got a good point. Governing from the extremes has wasted a lot of time and created a lot on unnecessary ill will in this country.
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