Monday, October 19, 2009

Thomas Elias: Schwarzenegger's legacy is looking negative | thecalifornian.com | The Salinas Californian


Thomas Elias: Schwarzenegger's legacy is looking negative thecalifornian.com The Salinas Californian:

"A little more than one year from today, Californians will elect a successor to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. How will they remember him?"

Will he seem a blustery buffoon who caused far more problems than he resolved, a governator who could not govern? Will he look like a hypocrite who preached against accepting special interest campaign donations, then set records for doing so?

Will the verdict on his appeals for "post-partisanship" be that they were mere nostrums doing little or nothing to prevent the state Legislature from sliding into its most divisive era ever?

Will he be remembered as the spark behind efforts to reform taxation, budget and water policies in California? Will he leave behind a sharp reduction for the California dream of unfettered opportunity for those brave enough to settle here?

These questions remain open, and Schwarzenegger will get opportunities over the next year to fix things that have gone wrong and clean up messes made on his watch.

But right now, things don't look good for the Arnold legacy.