Back on Track?

The LA Times is happily spinning a narrative about Arnold Schwarzenegger's "comeback" -- quite a change, the paper informs us, from "all last year — as Schwarzenegger stumped stubbornly and stridently while promoting his failed 'reform' initiatives — [and] voters fretted about the state's direction" (note the scare quotes around "reform").

There's no point in rehearsing the various failings of the Schwarzenegger campaign for what were, in fact, real and necessary reforms that would have lessened the iron-fisted grip of the unions over California politics and restored some semblance fiscal accountability, among other things. The point is that Schwarzenegger's numbers are back up -- not because, as the Times implies, he's following a more liberal course policy-wise, but because he's essentially caved in. That means that the unions and the Democrats are no longer running negative ads about him. It also means that he's not really achieving anything besides the salvaging of his own popularity ratings.

The LA Times notes that Schwarzenegger's numbers are "up" among Republicans. That's because they've seen Schwarzenegger's putative opponent emerge, and know they have no alternative. Indeed, as long as Schwarzenegger continues to cower before the unions and the legislature, he'll romp pretty easily to reelection. His opponent is an unappealing, far-left liberal. What's more, other powerful Democrats in the state (e.g. LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa) have no incentive to see an incumbent Democratic governor thwarting their own gubernatorial ambitions for the next eight years.

Ultimately, the moral of the story isn't that Schwarzenegger's new, "moderate" policies are making him politically popular -- as the Times would have readers believe. It's that, once you kneel in aject subjugation to the unions and liberals who defeated you, you lessen their bloodlust and gain some breathing room. After all, nobody kicks a dead dog.

The strategy is effective perhaps, but hardly inspiring.