Oh sorry, Arnie (27% approval rating)

[Ernesto]

...."Even worse, only 7 percent of registered voters think Schwarzenegger will leave California government in better shape than he found it, while 59 percent believe he will leave it in worse condition, the poll found."

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2484873.html

[Journeyman]

1. Sigh. Prescient people foresaw this in 2003. . .

Shoot, anyone without stardust in their eyes foresaw what a catastroph@#k this man was going to prove to be. . .

[thatsrightimirish]

2. idiotic decision to elect him

one of the most embarrassing moments in California history

[Auggie]

9. "I think it would be cool if the Terminator was Governor."

"I think it would be cool..."

I recall moronic quotes like those.

[Juneboarder]

3. Why apologize?

I could have predicted this before he was even elected into office... what a loser with a capital L!

[montanto]

4. That much?

Wow. You'd think it had to be lower than that.

[xxqqqzme]

5. I hope this disasterous steroid

pumped Austrian's experiment in the destruction of the 'Golden' state will be an end of electing 'B' actors as governors. Fooled us once - shame on rethugs; fooled us twice, shame on us! We all knew where this train wreck waiting to happen was headed during the corporate media sponsored recall.

[Dramarama]

6. To be fair

like Obama, no one wanted to help. Many (not all) of his stances have been quite liberal as of late.

[anigbrowl]

7. Yep - the GOP in the legislature are the worst

Schwarzenegger has been a pretty mediocre governor, though I like him a lot better than I did Pete Wilson. But the state party here (and their CA assembly members) are utterly toxic. The largest union in the state is the prison officers association, who are like some kind of bizarro world union that only supports social conservative policies and the prison-industrial complex, and wield huge political power. Our ballot initiative system is out of control and has become a tool of moneyed interests, even though I am strong supporter of direct democracy. The legistlature is like Congress, only worse - the GOP only hold about 2/3 of the seats but that's enough to block any legislation that involves any kind of tax they dislike (ie, all of them).

I'm not asking you to like Arnie...but even an accomplished and savvy executive like Bill Clinton would have trouble governing this state. A lot of the things that are wrong with the state were wrong before he took office, and will still be wrong after he leaves.

One thing that few people know is that he hasn't taken any salary as governor. Being rich, he can easily afford that, but all the same he's been working for free while in office, which I respect. Plus, he opposed proposition 8 and has been a solid supporter of Obama since he was elected, most recently giving credit for the benefits of the stimulus bill. And he's been a consistent champion of developing transit infrastructure and preserving CA's environment, to the point of suing the Bush EPA for CA's right to regulate greenhouse gases. State GOPers think he's a Democrat in Republican clothing. That's not the case, but he's a lot better than most other GOP governors.

[MarshalltheIrish]

10. Thanks for that assessment

I'm by no means a fan of Arnie as a Governor, but the state is just an ungovernable quagmire. I've talked with a few recently about the proposition system in particular and how it ironically wrecks the political process here. As much as it's supposed to give the populace a chance to govern and have their say, it IS too entrenched in special interest lobbying (not to mention cases of unfairness to minorities like gays and immigrants). I think the real key is the state legislature. Hopefully if Jerry wins he'll know how to work with it as well as his father, Pat.

[Ernesto]

8. and it gets worse for him!

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/21/2622520_a2622500/field-poll-schwarzeneggers-public.html