Barrett Kalellis
Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2003

In spite of a massive, well-orchestrated smear campaign at the 11th hour in the California recall campaign -- shamelessly huckstered by the Los Angeles Times -- candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger has now gotten the last laugh, by a landslide win over his Democrat opponents.

From this point forward, he will probably be compared in the press to that other rough-hewn, anti-establishment political novice, Jesse Ventura, who served a term as Minnesota governor, who became disillusioned and ultimately self-destructed in his final years in office.

With no honeymoon in sight, Schwarzenegger faces monumental fiscal problems from the get-go, wherein he must submit an austere budget package in January -- cold turkey for a state which historically favors laid-back, "California Dreamin'" solutions in public policy, from extreme environmental policies and "free" education, to cheap energy fixes and costly services for illegal immigrants.

It was only when the ship of state was perceived to be sinking -- when the wool was suddenly removed from the electorate's eyes that Governor Gray Davis and his administration were in fact incompetent -- that voters in large numbers invoked the recall option.

What followed was a sorry spectacle in self-government, as a veritable rogues' gallery of candidates, 135 in all, presented themselves for consideration as new hires. The surreal ballot included a porn actress, diverse businessmen, socialists, frustrated grandmothers, small-beer politicians and motley college students who wanted to legalize pot to smoke in their dorm rooms.

No one can argue that it isn't in the best Horatio Alger American tradition for anyone to run for office and get elected. Every child is taught that he or she can grow up one day to be president.

What is disconcerting is that so few people who pass muster as candidates seem even qualified to hold office in a representative democracy.

The handful of serious office-seekers in the California recall prove this point: Cruz Bustamante was part of the tarnished Davis administration; Green Party candidate Peter Camejo filled in for the socialist-minded; businessman Peter Ueberroth had no defined message for the voters; Tom McClintock, an experienced and articulate, though colorless and inflexible politician, seemed happy just to follow a different drum; Arianna Huffington, a social gadfly of no fixed principles, dropped out to support Davis; and Arnold Schwarzenegger, a bodybuilder turned actor, clearly wanted to climb the next mountain in his changing career.

Given the choices, California voters placed their bets on the only person who resonated the hint of leadership, if only because of his curious amalgamation of ambition, outsized personality and screen persona: Schwarzenegger. The Black Plowman (what Schwarzenegger means in German) has been anointed to lead the state out of its financial and political morass in spite of a lack of administrative experience and in the face of his earlier boorish, frat boy behavior toward women.

No matter what you may think of him, it cannot be denied that Schwarzenegger has the je ne sais quoi of leadership, attested by his rise from poverty and obscurity in a foreign country to a position of wealth and political power here.

When the chips are down, perceived leadership trumps both intellect and well-thought-out solutions to problems. Arnold exudes leadership, while McClintock, for example, does not. Eisenhower defeated the egghead Adlai Stevenson twice.

But Arnold's election tells us more about ourselves than we might care to admit. Too many voters have little understanding of the issues and have no concept of what government should be doing unless it directly affects them personally. Thus Gray Davis' tripling of California's car tax was the defining issue that removed him from office.

When voters have no clear ideological awareness of what differentiates candidates, they resort to a vote by faith alone -- their perception of candidates on grounds not necessarily associated with policy formulations: their looks, their demeanor, their rhetorical prowess and other cosmetic factors.

At the end of the day, these voters fall back on three impressions: One, ''Can I trust this person?'' Two, ''Does he sound like he knows what he's talking about?'' And three, ''Am I willing to follow this person?''

That other actor, Ronald Reagan, passed this test easily. But unlike Arnold, Reagan had a core set of ideological beliefs that informed his policy decisions, and he also had administrative experience as head of the Screen Actors Guild.

Whether Arnold can learn from the example of Reagan in the difficult tests that lie ahead remains to be seen. With a now embittered and adversarial California state Legislature, his task won't be easy.

California voters may soon realize that they no longer have The Gipper at the helm, they have The Groper. Let us wish them both well.

Barrett Kalellis is a Michigan-based columnist and writer whose articles appear regularly in various local and national print and online publications. He may be reached at kalellis@newsmax.com.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
California Governor's Race

Editor's note:
Arnold fans -- check out the new Terminator for Governor T-shirts -- Click Here