ARNIE: DUELING VISIONS

Art Torres (not to be confused with either Art Garfunkel or Ben Fong-Torres) says Arnold would be a poor governor:

California’s Democratic Party chief said you can’t have “on-the-job training” for a governor.

Art Torres criticized Arnold Schwarzenegger’s newly announced entry into the election aimed at recalling Governor Davis.

Torres told NBC’s “Today” show the actor doesn’t know what the issues are in California and has never held public office.

Torres also repeated his assertion that the move against Davis goes all the way to Republicans in the White House. And he denied that the Democrats are split — even though some prominent Democrats have entered the race.

Hmm. Let’s see now:

1. “On-the-job-training” is the only way anyone learns to be governor. Now, granted, South Carolina and some other states have a Governor’s School, but they don’t actually teach you to be governor there. Ditto Governors State University, of which I’d never heard until I searched for the previous URL.

2. Lots of people become governor’s without previous electoral experience. Some are good; some bad. Gray Davis had previous experience; it didn’t do him much good.

3. No, of course having other Democrats running against Davis isn’t a sign of division. Who could think such a preposterous thing?

Meanwhile, WaPo/Reuters reports this:

President Bush said on Friday he believed that Arnold Schwarzenegger would make a good governor of California.

Bush, answering questions at his Texas ranch, repeated that the California recall election was something for the people of California to decide, but when asked what he thought about the actor as governor, Bush replied: “I think he’d be a good governor.”

Now, who are you going to believe, a relaxed president on vacation at the ranch, or some guy named Art?

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. John Lemon says:

    My child makes “art,” but despite being on par with most stuff at modern art museums his “art” doesn’t sell well.

    Therefore, I don’t trust Art.

  2. John Lemon says:

    And if Grey Davis (British spelling) loses his office and decides to go into movies, will he need on the job training?

    Isn’t this like not being able to get a credit card until you have a credit rating showing that you pay back your credit cards.