> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Outsider Arnold has gone inside - URL: https://www.smdp.com/outsider-arnold-has-gone-inside/ - Published: 2007-10-16T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T03:27:32.000Z - Author: David Pisarra - Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import ON NOV. 17, 2003, GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER makes headlines by making good on a campaign promise to roll back the car tax. He came into office as an outsider, with a mandate from the people to shake things up, to do “the peoples work.” On Oct. 14, 2007, he signed in into effect an increase in the DMV registration fees and an increase in the smog abatements fees on new cars of $8. From the crusading red tape-cutter he was elected to be, Schwarzenegger has become a consensus builder, a middle-of-the-road functionary. He came into office with a groundswell of support, from all across the political spectrum, with high hopes that he would be able to effect vast and sweeping changes in the system of government. I didn’t vote for him. I don’t find him to be a man of the people. I don’t think he can relate to the majority of the citizenry, and consequently, I question whether he can adequately envision what we need. His ability to garner headlines is singularly impressing. His ostensible motivations in doing so, not so much. For a man who was on the cover of Newsweek, and can travel throughout the world and be recognized, I don’t see him using his fame to create a California that is ready for the future. We have a massive need for an infrastructure overhaul. We have multiple, complex problems that need to be addressed. Our aging and ailing freeways are the tip of the mountain of what needs to be done. California’s levee system is not in much better condition than New Orleans, and almost every expert expects a major earthquake to cause significant damage to a system that is responsible for protecting thousands of homes. The governor has proposed a water plan that has some backing from industry, but what is needed is not just some lobbyists who think that they know what is right for the state. We need someone who is able to see the future and the solutions, but more importantly, we need someone who can make the public see the future and be willing to pay for the solutions. Our prisons are severely overcrowded, and rather than taking a visionary stance on the root problems (a failed ‘war on drugs’ and mindless ’tough on crime’ jingoism), the governor’s response is to try to establish yet another commission to review sentencing guidelines, float bond measures to increase available beds and satisfy the prison guards union. All of which failed miserably. Now this governor, a man uniquely positioned to speak about how the youthful use of marijuana does not lead to a lifetime of drug use and insanity, finds himself unable to address the public from the bully pulpit of fame and celebrity, probably because he would be inflaming the Republican fringes who he must now kowtow to, if he is to make his expected run for the U.S. Senate in a few short years. In the movie “The Queen,” there is a scene where Queen Elizabeth is on the phone with Prime Minister Tony Blair. He is desperately trying to explain to her what the public needs, and she, in her arrogance and from the posh surroundings of her castle, condescendingly tells him, that “no one knows the British people better than I do, or what they need.” At times, it seems to me that the governor, with his storybook life and traffic-stopping wife, flying around the globe on private charters and staying in the best hotels, simply cannot relate to the average Californian. I’ve seen the governor on the boardwalk, riding his bike, appearing for all intents and purposes like a man of the people. I’ve seen him get out of the state-issued SUV on his way to church. I’ve seen him driving his super expensive autos, smoking a stogie. What I haven’t seen is the man who the people of California elected. The rebellious, rabble-rouser who was going to shake up the way we do business in Sacramento. In California, politics is much like a snow globe — something will come along and shake it all up, but over time, it all settles back down and the bureaucracy goes back to doing business as usual. Gray Davis was recalled, mostly over the car tax. It’s what put this governor in office. It seems ironic that the man who wanted to change the system seems to have been changed by the system. There was a time where I wanted to know Arnold Schwarzenegger. I still respect his business acumen, his legendary dedication to hard work, his embodiment of the ideals of what America stands for. But who is he now? And, more importantly, who will he be tomorrow? *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 16, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/101607.pdf?ref=smdp.com)