I don't think it's arrogance. It's more the naivete of a man who is as much an actor as a politician. There was a lot in his speech that was kind of self-deprecating and hamming at the same time - playing with his media image as a way to mock himself but also to connect with his "audience." (He really was *very* self-mocking in that speech, and that's how I heard the girlie man comment.) A typical politician would always be super-sensitive about "offending" people, but Arnold has himself appeared on SNL with Hans und Franz. His comment at the convention was actually inclusive in an Ah-nuld kind of way, about how he works with both the Pumped Up guys and the girlie men.
The Lehrer report on him before the convention definitely colored how I heard that comment. All this time I thought him being governor was an even bigger joke than Reagan, but the report spoke with a number of people, both democrat and republican, who have a pretty good view of him. The image I came away with is that he can be politically naive, especially with comments like that, but that he is really very bi-partisan and very sincere. He's like a throw-back to the Republicans of the 30s and 40s - fiscally conservative but socially liberal. And he also channeled $1 billion toward public schools in their new budget - something which the previous governor wouldn't do. Considering that Texas can't manage to come up with mere chump change for our schools, I have to admit that impressed me.
I'm not saying I would vote for him, but I came away with a more favorable view of him than I ever would have thought possible.
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Date: 2004-09-01 01:56 pm (UTC)The Lehrer report on him before the convention definitely colored how I heard that comment. All this time I thought him being governor was an even bigger joke than Reagan, but the report spoke with a number of people, both democrat and republican, who have a pretty good view of him. The image I came away with is that he can be politically naive, especially with comments like that, but that he is really very bi-partisan and very sincere. He's like a throw-back to the Republicans of the 30s and 40s - fiscally conservative but socially liberal. And he also channeled $1 billion toward public schools in their new budget - something which the previous governor wouldn't do. Considering that Texas can't manage to come up with mere chump change for our schools, I have to admit that impressed me.
I'm not saying I would vote for him, but I came away with a more favorable view of him than I ever would have thought possible.