The takedown of Arnold did not seem to be the handiwork of the Democrats, but of Arnold himself. He seemed invincible -- almost an action hero of politics. He got away with a lot of crap all the Democrats seem to just look on. His proposed pension scheme hurt policemen and firefighters. That seemed to be the opening wedge. Attacking nurses as being the problem with the health-care system was not particularly smart either. Once he appeared vulnerable, the mystique began to crumble -- sort of like in the movies where the bullied kid finally stands up for himself.
On Wed, Jul 26, 2006 at 12:45:48PM -0400, Nathan Newman wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Michael Perelman" <michael at ecst.csuchico.edu>
>
>
> -I live in Butte County, probably the most conservative county in
> California. My town,
> -Chico, is a college town and votes relatively liberal. Would you say that
> the Democrats
> -are doing well, even though the county regularly votes far right
> Republican? Yet, here in
> -Chico we have probably the smartest strategist in the California Democratic
> Party. But the
> -Democrats and the Democratic Party really don't have much of a presence or
> a message.
> -There are just the un-Republicans.
>
> Look, I'm not making large claims for Democratic Party brilliance; in many
> cases, they do win by default, but the default is that rightwing ideology
> just isn't that popular, which is why Bush talks about "saving Social
> Security" and "Clean Skies Initiatives" rather than dismantling government
> pensions and deregulating business as his supporters would call it. It's a
> lie, but the fact that they need to lie shows how much the right hasn't won
> the serious ideological wars.
>
> I can't talk about Chico but the labor-Democrat takedown of Arnold this year
> was pretty damn impressive. They hacked apart his rhetoric, blocked most of
> his initiatives through political attack and other challenges, and his
> popularity went into the toilet as it was made clear how allied he was with
> corporate interests.
>
> It's not enough of a postive program, I agree, but it's a start and,
> frankly, it's not like the Left has a very strong postive message these
> days.
>
> Nathan Newman
>
>
>
> ___________________________________
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-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu