SAN DIEGO -- Oops, Arnold is doing it again.
Last week, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made it official when he announced that he would seek re-election in 2006. And, as is probably true with many residents of the Golden State, I reacted to the news by trying to recall why I was once so excited about the prospect of him running for governor in the first place.
Part of it, I remember. Former Gov. Gray Davis needed to be benched, and that's what California voters did when they launched a recall campaign that sent him into the private sector. Davis couldn't seem to do anything right. He alienated friends and allies, on his way to honing the perception that he was so craven in his politics that he would say anything to anyone -- and then go back on his word at any moment.
Arnold seemed to be a welcome and refreshing change. Here was a multimillionaire movie star who didn't need the work and took an enormous pay cut to become governor. Fearless and visionary, Schwarzenegger wasted no time in zeroing in on a lot of what ails the state -- from the redistricting process to educational mediocrity to the enormous sway that unions have on the Democratic-controlled Legislature. He has proposed a series of ballot initiatives to take these concerns directly to voters and called a special election for this November.
Part action hero and part gunslinger, he stood his ground in the face of mounting criticism and gave back as good as he got. When Warren Beatty delivered a speech criticizing the governor's priorities, Schwarzenegger returned fire: If Beatty would stop giving him advice about governing, Arnold wouldn't give Beatty advice about acting.
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Perhaps most appealing of all, Arnold projected the independence of someone who couldn't be bought or pushed around or pressured to take positions in which he didn't believe. With so many politicians taking their marching orders from party leaders, not to mention lobbyists for special interests, it was exciting to think that we'd finally have someone who would call his own shots.
Schwarzenegger's political persona was all about being a California Republican -- conservative on fiscal matters, moderate-to-liberal on social issues -- with the muscle to back it up. In a state with conservative leanings on some issues but where barely one in three registered voters is aligned with the GOP, it seemed like a winning formula.
But that was then. Now Arnold is plagued by polls saying that nearly 60 percent of Californians wouldn't support his re-election, and his job approval rating is below 40 percent. Schwarzenegger insists he's not worried about polls.
Fine. Here's what he should be worried about -- the perception among many Californians that he is less a change agent than an arrogant bully intent on picking on public servants who tend to be held in higher esteem than most elected officials: police officers, firefighters, teachers and nurses. Add to that the perception that Schwarzenegger is straying from the script that helped him get elected and is lurching to the right to please his Republican base.
For example, although he promised that he would sign a bill that gave drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants as long as it met security concerns and produced a document that was distinct from the licenses issued to citizens, the governor now says he'll veto a bill from the Legislature that does just that. Although he originally stood for election as someone who supported gay rights, he has now signaled his intention to veto another bill headed his way that would seem to clear a path for gay marriage.
It's not where Schwarzenegger has arrived that is troubling. His positions on these issues -- and others -- are reasonable enough. Illegal immigrants should not have drivers' licenses and California voters already approved a ballot measure in 2000 that defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.
What is troubling is the possibility that it was a political calculation that got him there. That would make the governor like everyone else, and torpedo what has been, up to now, his main selling point -- his uniqueness in a world where elected officials too often look and sound alike. Schwarzenegger can be hated, mocked and vilified. He just can't be run-of-the-mill. If he comes across that way to voters next year, it could ruin the chances for a sequel.
Ruben Navarrette's e-mail address is ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com .
