Since his landslide reelection in a state dominated by Democrats, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has arguably become the nation’s most successful Republican politician. Combining liberal stands on social and environmental issues with fiscally conservative, pro-business policies, Schwarzenegger has appealed to Republicans, Democrats, and independent voters through what he calls a “post-partisan” agenda. The celebrity governor took office with worldwide name identification and a mountain of good will from the voters of California. But Daniel Weintraub, Sacramento Bee columnist and author of Party of One: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of the Independent Voter, visits Zócalo to argue that Schwarzenegger’s first four years as governor also represent an opportunity lost. The governor has squandered much of the advantage he once enjoyed with missteps, bad decisions, and poor execution. His final three years in the job will help determine whether Schwarzenegger is on the cutting edge of a broad, new movement of independent voters and independent-minded members of both major parties or simply someone whose unique resume combined with a special moment in California history to produce a never-to-be-duplicated phenomenon in American politics.
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