The Southern California wildfires will likely go down as the largest natural disaster in California in more than a decade — more than 500,000 acres burned, nearly 2,000 homes destroyed or damaged, and losses totaling at least $1 billion dollars in San Diego alone.
There is no doubt that disasters of this sort are a tragedy of epic proportions. And my heart goes out to all of the victims of these devastating wildfires.
At times like this, it is certainly the case that some of our elected officials have an opportunity — no, an obligation to step up and make a positive difference, both materially using the powers of their offices to help to deal with the crisis and its aftermath, as well as inspirationally, providing assurances to all of those touched by the terrible situation.
I have been extremely impressed with the job that Governor Schwarzenegger has been doing the 
last week. As is appropriate for the Governor of any state to be struck thusly, he has dropped everything else and taken a lead role as our state’s chief executive. While this page has had some noted public policy disagreements with Governor Schwarzenegger lately, it has been easy to put those aside for the time being and marvel at the energy and focus that the Governor has put into dealing with the wildfires.
Of course, as has been the case since the day that Arnold came onto the political scene, he continues to suck all of the oxygen out of a room as all of the media attention is on the charismatic Governor.
But I think that it is worthy of note that Arnold Schwarzenegger is not the only Republican elected official who has stepped up to the plate in a big way during this tragedy.
FlashReport readers should be quite pleased and impressed with the hard work of California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner (pictured in the crowd above with the Governor).
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