Oh, I Get It...

Sometimes, actually almost always, it is necssary to explain a joke to my teenaged daughter who is brilliant, but a little slow on the uptake. It's a charming thing actually; she laughs at the joke and then looks quizzically into the abyss as she tries to noodle it out. That's when I have to explain the joke, and then she laughs again. It is cute and harmless; it's not so funny, however, when adults are so callow that they take years to noodle out the obvious, and it’s even less funny when it’s not a joke.

The guest editorial, It's a Full Moon And The Governor's Transformation Is Complete by Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association that ran on the FlashReport yesterday caused me to think of my teenaged daughter. The op-ed (see excerpt below) was enjoyable, but it is necessary to take issue with the characterization that a “transformation” has occurred; that presumes that Governor Schwarzenegger started out as one thing and became another. This has been a subject on OAF Blog before and it remains amazing that anyone is shocked by any decision made by this Governor. Sadly, it appears that what is occurring is a final recognition of the mistake made by so many who lined up behind the “we gotta get a win” mantra when they helped elect Arnold Schwarzenegger Governor in 2003. Like the second laugh that occurs once my teenaged daughter "gets it," there is a certain amount of satisfaction in the awakening by those who are finally "getting it" about Arnold Schwarzenegger; only it's just not that funny (and it comes with significant costs).

IT'S A FULL MOON AND THE GOVERNOR'S TRANSFORMATION IS COMPLETE
by Jon Coupal

We are all familiar with those scary movies where the seemingly nice guy morphs into a threatening monster over a very short time.

Excuse me if I now find myself thinking of Arnold Schwarzenegger in his real life role as California Governor.

With his announcing yesterday that he would oppose Proposition 98, which would protect property owners from eminent domain abuse and provide additional property rights protections, the governor's transformation is complete.

His change was so quick that some may have missed it.

So let's look back to 2003, when citizen Schwarzenegger was running to replace an unpopular governor who was being recalled, largely because of his inability to manage the state budget that was billions of dollars in the red.

Schwarzenegger promised a bright future with strict fiscal discipline.

The state must live within its means, he said.

The budget must be balanced without tax increases.

He promised to "blow up the boxes" -- that is, consolidate government departments and programs and seek every available economy and efficiency in the provision of state services.

"We don't have a revenue problem," he famously declared, "we have a spending problem!"

Since Schwarzenegger took office, little has changed in state government, but the governor no longer resembles that citizen politician he promised to be.

In the last four years, revenue has increased by 29% while spending is up by 36% and the state faces, by conservative estimates, a $16 billion deficit.

Somewhere Gray Davis is chuckling.

(read the full op-ed here.)