Wednesday, October 08, 2003

So, now it's Governor Schwarzenegger, for at least a little while -- it's no surprise that the politcal junki activists at the Daily Kos are up in arms, but even some of the usually milder-mannered crowd at CalPundit are talking Total Recall.

In the meantime, this is something of a watershed. Dubya got elected despite very thin and unconvincing policy positions because the national press took them seriously (or at least pretended to). Arnold barely tried to advance any substantive positions, was mocked for that, and got elected anyway, more or less by playing on his looks, deriding the incumbent, and promising of something different -- no matter that the math laughably failed to add up.

And on the other coast, we have K Street, an entertainment program featuring real politicians playing themselves interacting with fictional lobbyists, blurring the lines between entertainment and politics the other way. And with all that, you have to wonder if people are losing track of a critical difference between the two. In entertainment, people are supposed to just make shit up. That's their job. In politics, though, there comes a point at which you need more than a good story. Things have to work. We'll see how soon they figure that out in California.

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