# Question for California residents: What do you think of Gov. Schwarzenegger? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 14, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667 "2010-07-14T15:37:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/21 "2010-07-14T20:34:45Z")
Actors often get into politics in other democracies, too – India and Italy come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/22 "2010-07-14T20:46:06Z")
Are California politics noticeably more corrupt than other states’? 'Cause, you know, Italy and India… ---
**Author:** ![Unpronounceable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/23 "2010-07-14T20:56:09Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I’m not a Californian, but frankly I’ve been largely impressed by him. I still don’t understand why Americans keep electing actors to high office though. Because they’re _professional_ liars. Not like those shoddy amateurs from Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Taenia\_spp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@Taenia\_spp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taenia_spp)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/24 "2010-07-14T21:27:48Z")
I’m moderately liberal, but not registered with any political party. I admit, when the Gubernator was first elected, I was embarrassed for our state for electing an actor for a political position instead of, well, a politician. I didn’t have too high hopes for his performance, but I’ve actually been pleasantly surprised. As mentioned upthread, he didn’t really pander to the republican party platform, and pushed forward many environmental measures. Though I’m not terribly crazy about him right now, he’s won my respect by doing one single thing: trying to tackle the bloated prison system. Though he didn’t win that battle, the fact that he tried to cut down that corrupt institution showed that he really does care about fiscal responsibility in the face of overwhelming odds. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/25 "2010-07-14T23:23:31Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > He was put into office as a successful ploy by the energy industry to keep Gray Davis from holding their feet to the fire over their artificial energy crisis and all the money they extorted out of us. That alone cost us billions, and outweighs anything else he ever did or could have done. Not only that, but the amount that was stolen from CA government in a brief time nearly 10 years ago is remarkably similar to the amount of the current deficit. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/26 "2010-07-14T23:27:33Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > My question, for the Californians, is that though you may agree that he was unable to fix the financial problems, whether you think anyone would have been able to? I’m sure plenty of politicians could have simply danced around the problems and off-loaded them onto the next person, but that’s not fixing nor even attempting to fix the issues. Schwarzenegger seems to be getting kicked about for not fixing them because he actually fought to do so, rather than passing a layer of obfuscation and announcing the problem “fixed”. Sure - he could have signaled to the few Republicans in the Legislature that it would be fine to pass a budget instead of holding a state hostage the last 10 years. It is all part of a long term strategy anyway, dating back to Prop 13: Starve the Beast by reducing taxes on everyone except “just folks”, and then slice programs “because there isn’t money”. Most years, there _is_ money, or their would be if the Republicans have not been at this, and de-educating the population for well over a generation now. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/27 "2010-07-15T01:29:25Z")
He certainly is not the unapproachable asshole that Gray Davis turned out to be. But he didn’t try to work with his own party at all. And when his own party didn’t play ball with him, he should have switched parties. He put a happier face on a problem of needing 2/3 to pass a budget when the minority party would rather see the state destroyed than compromise. Minority rule sucks. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/28 "2010-07-15T02:24:08Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > Schwarzenegger ended up being a much better governor than I expected, although to be fair I didn’t have very high expectations. I thought the recall that put him into office was a travesty, but I also thought Gray Davis sucked hairy balls so I wasn’t exactly devastated when it went through. > > The problem with California is our legislature, which is terrible, and our jacked up budget process, where the legislature needs a 2/3 majority to pass a budget but propositions can set budget mandates with a simple voter majority. Throw all these things together and you have a nearly impossible job for any governor tasked with steering the state away from financial destruction. Almost exactly my opinion. I respect the Governator, but it’s s super tough job he wasn’t quite up to, but I don;t know who would be. Jerry Brown has a chance of being up to the job, at least he has the experience. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/29 "2010-07-15T03:07:19Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Having only lived in California this century, I’m unfamiliar with Brown. He needs to explain his current positions well; he’ll not get my vote by coasting on his reputation or past accomplishments. Brown can not coast on his past, he has to remake himself again and hope people do not remember his past. I can not vote for him and I do not want to vote for Meg, in fact I am afraid to vote this year. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/30 "2010-07-15T03:12:51Z")
I usually have no problem voting for a Democrat, but Jerry Brown has shitted all over the party activists for decades. And I think the California governor’s job has been sliding down the hill of impossibility since Prop 13 in 1978. In a recession with declining revenues and a 2/3 supermajority necessary for a budget it is not going to be easy. Meg Whitman doesn’t seem to have a clue about politics. She hasn’t even managed to get Schwarzenegger’s endorsement, but has the far right vote locked up. She is quick to point the finger at others and negatively campaign. I’m going to hold my nose and vote for Jerry Brown. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/31 "2010-07-15T03:14:52Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I can think of the kind of person who might be able to fix things. I’m sure that the governor has some say in allocating money to districts - he need to call a legislator into his office, and tell him that bright shiny new project is moving elsewhere unless he votes the right way.\*\* While he is still popular he needs to threaten to support an opponent\*\*. He needs to know which buttons to push to get someone to change a vote. You don’t need that many votes here to get something done. Still popular? What? The news tonight reported that his approval rate is the same as Davis when he was recalled, 16% ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/32 "2010-07-15T03:42:16Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > The problem with California is our legislature, which is terrible, and our jacked up budget process, where the legislature needs a 2/3 majority to pass a budget but propositions can set budget mandates with a simple voter majority. Throw all these things together and you have a nearly impossible job for any governor tasked with steering the state away from financial destruction. This is true (I really hate the proposition process). It is pretty thankless task. But… > [@Simplicio](#): > > How did he fight to fix the budget problems? > > Again, in his first year he reduced revenue by 5 billion dollars, borrowed fifteen billion dollars at a time when the economy was relatively strong, and papered over the mess with vague promises to “cut waste” and a meaningless balanced budget proposition that allowed more borrowing and didn’t actually require the legislature to balance the budget. > > So I’d claim the opposite, I think Ahnuld is actually more responsible for CA’s current woes then he is held accountable for. People tend to blame the CA political process and the legislature, both of whom certainly deserve plenty of blame, but the Governator decided to offer everyone a free lunch rather then fix the obvious and growing issues with the CA budget back when he actually had the political room to fix things. You can’t ignore this. He’s made matter worse. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/33 "2010-07-15T13:03:00Z")
Didn’t Davis’s popularity plummet because he tried to do something to solve the budget problem right after he was re-elected? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/34 "2010-07-15T16:30:00Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > Still popular? What? > The news tonight reported that his approval rate is the same as Davis when he was recalled, 16% Right after getting elected he was popular. If he was going to make something happen, it had to be then, not now, when he probably can’t get a phone call returned. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@Captain\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/35 "2010-07-16T11:13:38Z")
I applaud the man for going out there and doing this job the best he can. While there is much prestige in being the Governor of California, it is a state job that pays a fraction a year of what his movies would earn him, doing a real job that is difficult and stressful. In think maybe, that he is like a lot of us normal people who go, “If I was a Governor or Senator, I would do things to change my state and country!” with lofty goals and initiatives. Arnold had the same idea, but he had the money to follow through. I think when he became governor, he saw that the task was difficult, with a lot of buttheads in Saramento who do not care who he is or what. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/36 "2010-07-16T16:23:37Z")
> [@Captain\_Midnight](#): > > In think maybe, that he is like a lot of us normal people who go, “If I was a Governor or Senator, I would do things to change my state and country!” with lofty goals and initiatives. Arnold had the same idea, but he had the money to follow through. I think when he became governor, he saw that the task was difficult, with a lot of buttheads in Saramento who do not care who he is or what. How would you feel about a guy who decided to do brain surgery with no experience, just because he felt he could do better? Since being elected to political office does not require certification, everyone thinks he can do it. In fact, the popular sentiment today is that those who know nothing about it can do better. Sure there are buttheads in Sacramento, but the skill of politics is figuring out how to deal with them, not whining that you can’t get anything done because they are there. It would be better for us if these rich people bought a sports team or took up yachting or something. They go into politics as a kind of hobby, and we get screwed, especially because they don’t want to spend the time to learn at lower levels before competing for the top jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@Captain\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/37 "2010-07-17T04:57:09Z")
While there is a large degree of “glamor” to being the governor of the largest American state, in fact, Arnold had to work very hard every single day. No matter what you thought of the man politically, I think he tried. He was a Republican, but someone who was fairly “middle of the road”. There really can’t be any doubt that he has worked the hardest in his life for the least amount of money since he became famous. According to the website I list below, Arnold made $212.179 a year as governor. That’s good money for most of us, but for someone who lives in Beverly Hills who makes $5 to $20 million dollars a film, this is a pittance. Not to mention having to live in Sacramento most of the year. Famous Hollywood actors do not work that hard on the set. A state governor, and especially the state governor has to work everyday. They have to plan budgets, please constituents. Make sure that the people that places him into the position are being cared for. Arnold has had to oversee at least one execution of a death row inmate. More or less in the end, the rabble ends up hating him by a majority because he did not do “a good job” in comparison to what they would do in the same position. It’s a lot like watching a QB in an NFL game watching him throw a bad pass. The armchair guy at home with his belly full of beer bellows, “Shit, what is wrong with him! I would have never done that!” routine. California is fucked basically. This is partly due to the Mexican invasion, and partly because in a democracy, our leaders are chosen by basically retarded people who want their taxes cut to nothing while demanding the best services (education, police, social services) money can buy. If a leader raises taxes, he/she is an asshole. If they cut services because of a lack of money, the lemmings call them heartless. Frankly, I think about 98% of Hollywood is puke and bile. Arnold I have some respect for. I think there was a lot of ego involved when he decided to run for governor, but instead of just being rich and playing golf, he decided to do this impossible job. [http://caljobsource.com/calsalaries.html](http://caljobsource.com/calsalaries.html) ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667/38 "2010-07-17T05:48:45Z")
> [@Captain Midnight](#): > > applaud the man for going out there and doing this job the best he can. While there is much prestige in being the Governor of California, it is a state job that pays a fraction a year of what his movies would earn him, doing a real job that is difficult and stressful. I don’t believe Schwarzenegger accepts his salary from the state. I don’t know what happens to it but I’ve ready many times that he doesn’t accept it. I believe he also pays his own way when flying back and forth between Sacramento in the mornings and his home in LA most nights. IIRC, his family didn’t want to move to Sacramento and he wanted to maintain a home life with his family, so the answer was to fly back and forth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-california-residents-what-do-you-think-of-gov-schwarzenegger/546667.md?page=1)