California’s Governor has truly found the magic wand. Yesterday he was Governor Terminator, today he’s fabled 1960s Governor Pat Brown, beloved by all for making manna fall from the sky. Remarkable what one little old State-of-the-State Speech in front of the captive Legislature will do. Last night Ahnold unveiled the new kinder, gentler, makeover Ahnold.
Having suddeenly discovered the social and infrastructure problems of California, he’s got a new vision of a great California for the electorate.
And, GASP (!), Ahnold admits he might have made mistakes in his approach [such as trying to beat the crap out of teachers, nurses, firefighters, police, public employees, the pension system, construction, and many other groups]. Well, by golly, he’s now Mr. Sunshine and we are going ahead together to a brighter future.
Ahnold said last night,
“I’ve thought a lot about the last year and the mistakes I made and the lessons I’ve learned. What I feel good about is that I led from my heart.
Now it’s true that I was in too much of a hurry. I didn’t hear the majority of Californians when they were telling me they didn’t like the special election. I barreled ahead anyway when I should have listened.
I have absorbed my defeat and I have learned my lesson. And the people, who always have the last word, sent a clear message — cut the warfare, cool the rhetoric, find common ground and fix the problems together. So to my fellow Californians, I say — message received.
And I hope the members of the Legislature also got the message that people want us to work together. I have always felt that the people are my partners.
So I haven’t for a moment doubted our fundamental agenda — to regain California’s fiscal integrity, to return government to the people and to prepare our state for the extraordinary changes to come.”
Golly, “in too much of a hurry”! “I have absorbed my defeat”! Ahnold, you tried to beat those you set up as boogeymen and got punked instead. Ahnold you ignored the fiscal crisis and now you just found it?
Wow! A new vision! And we get to pay for it! Yep, Ahnold having sneered at all such weakness last year, now wants to rebuild California in partnership with us, the people and voters of California.
“Think of California as a mutual fund –in particular, a growth fund. Why do we invest in a growth fund? Because we believe in the economic future. So I ask each of you… do you believe in California’s economic future? Well then we must invest in it. If we do not invest in ourselves, how can we expect others to invest in us?”
Ahnold, you’re making me sick. The State of California is a mutual fund?
With this first phase of our Strategic Growth Plan, we will take a ten-year chunk out of that need. This plan will leverage 70 billion dollars in bonding capacity over the next ten years to achieve a total investment of more than 200 billion dollars. And we can do it without raising taxes.
We can use our bonding capacity more wisely by planning and leveraging our tax dollars to attract other resources — like federal funding, more local funding and more private investment. For example, most of the dollars that we will invest in levee protection will be matched with 130 percent with federal dollars.
Ahnold! You found fiscal management! And the Tooth Fairy!
Read the whole thing at Capitol Weekly. Be prepared for Ahnold’s gushing smile (even in print) and blood sugar problems.
