Took It With Ease

Congratulations to the Alliance for a Better California and everyone else who soundly defeated Arnold Schwarzenegger's bid to consolidate power and silence his critics. This is a vindication of sorts for the progressive movement in the state. I want to hear dear Ahnold talking about how he's "the people's governor" after this debacle.

We all know what his response will be.  He'll talk about how the "union bosses" don't want change in Sacramento, but he'll keep fighting.  He'll try to use it as a rallying cry.  But the real question this situation brings to mind is: why was this election called in the first place?  Why were SO MANY taxpayer dollars, so many ad buys, so many corporate and union and small donor funds spent during a time of budget constraints on an election nobody wanted that yielded no positive results? The final bill for this election, which accomplished absolutely nothing, cost close to $300 million dollars.

That's an expensive lesson for California's biggest grown child. The lesson is that you can't rule with an iron fist, sidestep the legislature, deride public employees as "special interests," and expect to get away with it. Not here, anyway.

Ahnold hasn't even shown he's learned this lesson:

On a Beverly Hills stage Tuesday night next to his wife, Maria Shriver, Schwarzenegger pledged "to find common ground" with his Democratic adversaries in Sacramento.

"The people of California are sick and tired of all the fighting, and they are sick and tired of all the negative TV ads," he told supporters at the Beverly Hilton. He did not concede, saying instead that "in a couple of days the victories or the losses will be behind us."

At labor's election night party in Sacramento, union leaders were not in a forgiving mood, vowing revenge against the governor next year when he seeks reelection. They were particularly incensed that he had not given union members their due for what they believed to be a clean sweep of his agenda.

"He never apologized once for trashing every one of us," said Mike Jimenez, president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. "And I can tell you, tomorrow we're not going to apologize for the way this election turned out. Tomorrow starts Round 2."

Damn straight. This arrogant fool who can't even concede that's he's been beaten is just beginning on his road to ruin.

p.s. I am upset that the "No More Sequels to True Lies or Twins" initiative didn't qualify for the ballot. I wanted to end up voting "YES" on SOMETHING.