California Über Alles
Wherein our narrator witnesses the passing of the
torch to a new generation. Of Kennedys.
He gave a short speech, and a better showing -
and not just in votes - than any other candidate this evening. Tom McClintock
was gracious, because he has his eyes on Barbara Boxer's senate seat, up next
year. Cruz Bustamante went onstage at 9 PM and was still talking at 10:30, and
it wasn't clear to me that he actually ever conceded. (I'm still not sure he
has.) Fortunately CNN cut him off when they realized he was just blathering on
and on and on. Gray Davis actually looked happier in his loss than he ever
looked during the campaign - almost ebullient. Perhaps he could feel the level
of hatred that had been building since the electricity crisis of 2001 (as a Los
Angeleno, with my own, municipal power company, I never felt the pinch, or the
rate hikes), and the dot-com crash, and the persistent recession lift off his
shoulders. Onto someone else with undeniably broader shoulders, tested against
a heavier load. Of free weights.
I'm
relieved too. It's over. That in itself is actually something that's sweet to
savor; the temporary insanity that swept through California over the last 77
days is over. It has, perhaps, been replaced by a more lasting form of the
illness, as a man that most would acknowledge as a single-minded megalomaniac
assumes the mantle of office. All hail Arnold Schwartzenegger, Governor of the
State of California.
Let's be clear
about this: we Californians have taken the SUV of the political process and
driven straight off the map. This is not Ronald Reagan, who was well versed in
political affairs before he became governor. Yes, Arnold ran a successful
initiative campaign back in 2002, and that does count for something. But we
must admit that we have elected a man purely on the basis of his box-office
appeal. There were no issues he stood for, no promises made (save repealing the
car tax, which he has the power to do) but while that might have condemned
another candidate to obscurity, in Arnold his complete lack of authority is a
positive asset. He is the Californian tabula rasa, the blank slate upon which
we can project all of our California
dreaming.
I am Governor
Terminate
My aura smiles
I never wait
Soon I will be president
Davis power will soon go
away
I will be Fuhrer one day
I will command all of you
Your kids will bodybuild in
school
California Uber
Alles
Uber Alles California
Zen fascists will control
you
100% natural
You will jog for the master race
And always wear the happy face
Close your eyes, can't
happen here
Big Bro' on white
horse is near
The robots won't
come back you say
Fall in line or
you will pay
California
Uber Alles
Uber Alles California
Now it is 2004
Knock knock at your front door
It's the suede/denim secret
police
They have come for your
uncool neice
Come quitely
to the camp
You'd look nice as a
drawstring lamp
Don't you worry,
it's only a shower
For your
clothes here's a pretty flower
Die on organic poison gas
Serpent's egg's already hatched
You will crack, you little clown
When you mess with Terminator
California Uber Alles
Uber Alles California
etc, etc. It's just too easy to twist
a few lyrics, here and there, and end up with something
interesting.
Nightline
is just finishing up, and I'm through listening to Ted Koppel, et. al, explain
why governing California won't be easy, particularly when both houses of the
legislature are ruled by the opposite party. But that's presuming that the
Governor-elect is cast in the same mold as any other politician they've seen
before. He isn't. He is ruled by charisma, and while politicians may
understand the ego-drive, charisma is rare (as I reported last evening) and will
affect the entire political process in weird & unpredictable ways. Let me
state it again: we have driven off the map, and everything we thought we knew
ain't necessarily so.
In some way, the
most interesting image of the evening was the stage where Arnold made his
victory speech, crowded as it was with Shirvers and Kennedys, so many that he
claimed the stage was actually full with them. Given the way the Kennedys
breed, he probably wasn't far off the mark. In conversation with my friend
Steven, another longtime political junkie, we noted that perhaps this was the
new evolution of the Kennedy political power base. Now that the Democrats seem
to be in decline, they're branching out into the territory of moderate
Republicans. It's a smart move, because the political polarization (covered in
"The Civil WarS") has deprived American politics of a vital center. And if the
country doesn't disintegrate into civil war, the center is the place to be. The
Kennedys, despite all their liberal posturing, have always been centrist
Democrats, and this slight move to the right means that the family political
dynasty is staking out new territory in the universe next door. An
Anschluss,
of sorts, of a next-door neighbor.
Which is why the Shrivers and Kennedys
were all smiling so broadly tonight. They are moving Right. And
West.
Posted: Wed - October 8, 2003 at 12:23 AM