Conan the Non-Partisan

When Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in October 2003, many expected the actor to be a moderating influence in the GOP. From his criticisms of Sarah Palin’s op-ed piece on climate change, to his railing on the Tea Party movement, he has lived up to his roll. The past two days have evinced his stance as perhaps the only non-partisan individual among his caterwauling party. No doubt his wife, democrat Maria Shriver, is deserving of some credit. I doubt he would find a coddling wife at nights if he spent his days as another “get-in-line” GOP megaphone for misinformation.

On Sunday, Schwarzenegger administered a castigation of his party for rebuking Obama’s stimulus, while openly endorsing stimulus-funded projects. He took special aim at Mitt Romney for the fatuous statement he made portending that the stimulus hadn’t created a single net job gain. He criticized the majority of his party by saying, “they go out and do the photo ops, posing with the big check and they say: ‘Isn’t this great? Look at the kind of money I’ve provided for the state and this is money to create jobs’.”

The following day he brought his criticisms to light once more, branding the GOP’s wish to restart the health care talks from scratch as “bogus talk” and citing it as a partisan tactic. Schwarzenegger’s sane by comparison approach has been acknowledged by the white house, as he was the only governor to be granted a private meeting with President Obama after a joint governors meeting Monday morning.

Having been casted as the scourge to the Republican Party, and equally disliked by democrats, Schwarzenegger has found himself in a political purgatory. For this I salute him, as a man among mice, whether we’re witnessing the courage of a lone man, or simply his fear of marital reprisal. Despite the many grievances of his voters, which are well-founded in some cases, on this song he has been nearly pitch-perfect.