Dan Walters: Nothing to be Gained if Schwarzenegger Sounds Retreat

Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters has this piece on why California Governor Arnold Swarzenegger must hold the line, tout his reform agenda and force a special election this fall:

What is a supposition wrapped in a myth, encased in a fallacy? It’s the canard that were Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to drop his ballot measures and make nice with Democrats in the Legislature, dark clouds would part, the sun would shine, birds would sing, and all political conflicts would disappear.

Democratic leaders and their allies chant that mantra constantly, of course, portraying Schwarzenegger as a Republican centrist who was somehow lured into the ways of wickedness – meaning confrontation – by mysterious forces of the right but who could be cleansed of his sins if he would confess them and repent…

To restore his credibility, Schwarzenegger would have to end his myth-telling and describe the Capitol accurately – that it is a profoundly dysfunctional institution and that in the absence of fundamental reform, probably going way beyond what he is proposing this year, it will continue to deteriorate.

Were Schwarzenegger to drop his reforms, especially redistricting and spending controls, as Democrats and their hallelujah chorus on the state’s editorial pages espouse, the result wouldn’t be a flow of constructive compromise, but a continuation of decades-long gridlock on major issues, and slavish devotion to narrow interests.

Capitol politicians would rightfully see it as another cave-in by Schwarzenegger and as an indication that if they’d wait him out, he’d go away and a Democratic governor would succeed him and sign the measures that they want to enact for their political pals.

The California Republican Party must hold the Governator accountable as well. Should Arnold become an appeaser then Senator Tom McClintock waits in the wings for the June 2006 primary.