I just found out that Peter Ueberroth, the last decent commissioner of baseball, and the guy who brilliantly managed the 1980 LA olympics, has decided to run for Governor of California as an independent. And according to this article, “His overwhelming emphasis is going to be on fixing the state’s economic crisis.”
Good. That’s just what we need. FTR I am still against this whole recall. I still think we are seeing how ill conceived the current statutory scheme is, and I urge my fellow Californians to revise it once we are through with this mess.
But if Davis is going to be out, and we have to pick somebody new, how about we get somebody with a proven track record for leadership and strategic thinking, rather than picking some guy just because he played a robot in a movie and fought with a sword in another movie and also was in another movie where–get this–he plays a guy who is pregnant!
I wasn’t too impressed with his performance as the head of the commission to rebuild sections of Los Angeles after the riots. As I recall, he resigned after about a year because he wasn’t able to deliver on his promises.
It’s tempting to vote for The Terminator just because he’s rich enough not to be swayed by special interests.
I just find it interesting that California may very well end up with a Governor who is elected with only 10-15% of the vote, and that Gray Davis could get three times that and still be ousted. I guess that’s why I don’t live there anymore. (Actually, it’s not, but I’m glad I don’t have to deal with it.)
I say, go Arnie! It’s not like he can screw things up anymore, right? I don’t know much about Ueberroth, but since he’s quite the long shot, he’s probably the perfect man for the job.
Funny, but I was thinking along those lines, too. I will probably vote against the recall and then decide between Arnie and Peter. What would make me vote for Arnie is if it was a close race between him and Bustamante, with Ueberroth trailing. But I still need to look at both of these guys’ platforms before deciding. I’m not overly optimistic that either (esp Arnold) will come out with clear plans. For Arnold, it may not be necessary. The campaign is short, and he may just want to coast thru on his name recognition and charisma and avoid getting hammered by the opposition if he goes into too much detail on what his plans are. That would be a shame.
Well, I don’t know. I think you are quite correct that Arnold may not publish “clear plans” though he will come out with positions. Nor do I think this should necessarily be held against him. If you’re the clear front runner, it’s a sucker’s game to make detailed commitments unless you really have to.
There is obviously no silver bullet that will solve all of California’s problems while making everybody happy. Whatever solutions there are will require hard choices. These, by definition, will make at least some people really mad. Politically, it is foolish to go out of your way to make people mad unless you really have to.
There is also a good argument to be made that, in a situation like California’s, you don’t want to have a govenor who has made lots of detailed promises to various interest groups in order to get elected.
In fact, having a govenor like Arnold or Ueberroth (though I think he’s almost certain to be an also-ran) could be just the political cover the state legislature needs to get things sorted. “Yeah, I had to vote for a spending cut/tax increase but Arnie made me do it.”
Ummm… make that the 1984 Olympics actually. I was there as a competitor and I met the man. Very nice man. Very handsome at the time too. He had a really healthy sense of tradition. The colour scheme might have been somewhat overkill in terms of pastel colours, but at least it was very consistent and totally devoid of any commericialism whatsoever.
A good guy in my opinion. I’d vote for him for sure.
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All right, Boo, you certainly aren’t going to get away with just that! Give it up. What events were you competing in? Yet another world-class doper in our midsts!
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There were many things I liked about Ueberroth as commissioner of baseball, but he is the one who was most responsible for the owners colluding to avoid bidding on free agents. This collusion was in violation of the basic agreement with the players’ union, and resulted in fines totalling $280 million. This huge, costly blunder weighs against Ueberroth’s image as the “last good commissioner.”
