THE DINNER – AND THE GOVERNOR’S SPEECH
Republicans, including myself, were really looking forward to last night’s dinner with our Republican Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Sometimes, because there is a tendency for differences of opinion to be highlighted more than areas of agreement, there becomes a perception that divisions are bigger than they are. As readers here know, I have my share of differences of opinion with this Governor on a few key public-policy initiatives this year, and a certain personnel decision. That said, I am still a supporter of Arnold Schwarzenegger, feel he has been a good Governor, and am anxious to see him re-elected. It is my desire to see him re-elected that often times ‘animates’ me to be so vocal. The checkers-players out there say, "You aren’t helping the Governor to get re-elected by criticizing him in a public forum" (referring to this website). These folks are only thinking one move ahead. I like to think of myself as more of a chess-player, looking out a few moves ahead. The reason for my ongoing dialogue here is because I think that these policy initiatives are bad politics. I think that an energized base vote, those who made up the fire and drive in the Gray Davis Recall, are essential for this Governor’s re-election, and that these policy initiatives dampen the enthusiasm of those very people. I am not speaking out to hurt the Governor – but rather to help him. His re-election is critical to California’s future, and I am going to do everything I can to see that happen.
Anyways, back to the dinner. The crowd – 750ish. The mood – upbeat but a lot of curious folks, wondering about (in light of all of the controversy lately) what the Governor would say. First of all, for those of us in the audience, this was an after-dinner speech. The Governor had no place at the head table, and did not join us for the Fairmont’s random chicken dish (kudos to whomever torched 750 crème brulees!). But as soon as dinner and dessert were consumed, the Governor came out to deliver what had been told to the press would be a 14 minute speech – it was about that. Of course, gone are the days where a candidate is in his room, struggling with his speed until the last minute, using pencil and eraser to make last minute changes. This speech was written early, to the point where key excerpts were sent out to the media hours before-hand. Those really cool teleprompter gizmos that allow a speaker to read their remarks off of luminescent panels that are clear and see-through from the audience’s perspective but carry the lines of a speech in 800 point font on the other side for the speaker were in place. The Governor, of course, has been memorizing lines in his career, and so was able to deliver his speech with a lot of emphasis and drama. I’m sure he played a key role in reviewing and editing his remarks.
I would characterize the speech as – safe. I have attached the remarks below so you can formulate your own opinion. But the Governor threw out a lot of red-meat to Republicans, emphasizing his position against tax increases, and his veto of legislation that would have granted licenses to drive to undocumented residents. He evoked the names of GOP greats, and thanked the party faithful for their support. He said that the battle for reform that was fought last year was not over. And he talked about the need for the GOP to be forward-looking, and stressed the need for the party to embrace building California. By this, referring to addressing the serious lacking in infrastructure investment in California the last few decades, despite tremendous population growth.
The reason why I characterized the speech as ‘safe’ was that it was very general and not overly specific. Most notably, everyone applauded about his statements on the need for infrastructure investment. However, absent from the speech was any mention of his plan to place $68 billion in general obligation bond funding before the voters. Absent was the fact that all of our Assembly Republicans are united behind Assembly Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s pay-as-you-go alternative plan. McCarthy along with Senate GOP Leader Dick Ackerman were seated at the head table tonight – along with party leaders and our presumptive (read: unopposed) nominees – McClintock and McPherson).
Of course, this attendee was looking for the improbably speech, which would have contained a combination of some bold policy announcements on opposition to imminent domain abuses and aggressive steps to deal with the devastating impacts of illegal immigration in California (and he could have axed Rob Reiner for good measure). So, the safe speech gets the Governor through the convention with applause and sign waving (I applauded many times myself). But it left a lot of us wondering if we were going to see a resurgence of the 2003 candidate in the recall, who championed fiscal conservatism (which is was garnered him my support in a tough-call, with Tom McClintock on the ballot).
Well, the Governor is off to Washington, D.C. for a Governors Association meeting and today will be "Tom McClintock Day" at the GOP convention, I am sure!
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