We are All Terminated

Politics is all about networking. Who, then, isn’t related to Arnold? You’ll find it hard to believe, but from Sinatra to Johnny Depp, celebs are all just a movie away from Arnold.

But what does Arnold stand for? Physical fitness for sure, but what else, if anything? With his accent, he might be confusing that with Fiscal fitness.

On day one of the race, he’s promising that everyone in California with have a “great job.” Who is he thinking of? There are no new jobs, that’s what they call “productivity gains” these days.

I was actually going to write about how that “gain” really just means that people are working longer hours off the books, while still being counted by the Bureau of Labor Standards as putting in only a 40-hour week. But the governator (credit: The Mirror) doesn’t seem to get that it’s a jobless recovery. The productivity growth rate is actually higher than the job gain and economic growth rates. It will take a 5 percent growth rate, more or less, to overcome the working-longer-hours-for-the-same-dough, excuse me, productivity gains of the corporations

Bottom line: Can Arnold terminate the shellacking California citizens took from the Texas oil crowd and the folks at Enron? Will he stand tough against the Bush-Cheney big oil gutting of California’s economy?

Will he, in short, listen to his much more politically savvy wife even though he is running as a moderate Republican? After all, the Republicans may whine that Dean is taking the Dems too far to the Left, but the extreme right wing has driven old-fashioned conservative Republicans right out of the leadership of their party.

Which means, if Arnold is truly moderate, he might even end up governing as a moderate-conservative Democrat. Oh the irony, oh the farce! He might be a JFK Kennedy sort of Democrat.

And he owes nothing to no one, so he can do what he wants if he wins. He might turn out to be as good a Democrat as anyone the Democrats come up with to run against him. He might prove to be that rarest of politicians, one who is middle of the road…at least if he listens to Maria.
¶ 2:58 PM