Word: arnold
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...those looking to convince themselves--and the rest of us--that they are the ideal candidate for the times. Just about everyone who is going to face the voters 13 months from now saw something positive in the results. There are myriad theories as to what the Arnold Effect means--and most of them are true...
Behind the celebrity factor, behind the recall circus, lies a tantalizing possibility. In his unique blend of fiscal conservatism and social liberalism, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a genuinely new kind of politician, one that both parties have lamentably failed to provide in the past couple of decades. In our political wars, he's a synthesis. In our culture wars, he's a truce...
...Arnold taps into this. He is, after all, the ultimate creature of the 1970s. If you don't believe me, go rent Pumping Iron, the extraordinary documentary of Schwarzenegger's rise in the nascent bodybuilding culture of the time. He took a minor and largely derided sport and made it a world-wide sensation. And he extolled its pleasures and reveled in its vanity. He said he used to compare a good workout in the gym with an orgasm--and on Oprah! You can see frames of him smoking what looks like a big fat joint after a contest...
...merry dollop of irony. He was one of the first major movie stars who winked at the audience, understanding that they too were intelligent enough to see through the pyrotechnics and absurd dialogue to be amused by the pure entertainment of the spectacle. In his first two careers, Arnold deeply understood both the bohemian and conservative aspects of the popular culture of which he was a part. He immersed himself in them and helped bring them together...
...know of any other politician like that? One of Arnold's predecessors as Governor, Ronald Reagan, was a child of the popular culture. But he belonged to an earlier generation; he never made fun of himself as a movie star (that was left to others). And in office, his occasional appeal to movie references--"Go ahead, make my day"--was uneasily balanced by a moral Puritanism that helped cement a post-Dixie South into his coalition. Clinton tried to make himself look hip. But he always seemed suppliant to Hollywood, as if he were trying to be cool by association...