Voters buy smiles and 'no new taxes'
FROM THE EAST Coast, the outcome of the California recall election feels like waking up one morning, leaving behind the husband, the children, the cat, the dog, and the fish and running away with Red Sox outfielder Johnny Damon. California voters ousted career politician Gray Davis as governor, replacing him with Arnold Schwarzenegger, a bodybuilder and movie actor making his first run for political office. Schwarzenegger's thick neck, Botox-tight brow, cartoon character accent, and total lack of detailed agenda make it hard to look at this election and see something other than a very serious midlife crisis on the part of California voters. The entire state is driving away in a red Corvette -- no, make that a Hummer -- heading for a wild weekend in Las Vegas instead of a family vacation at the beach.
Is it really the triumph of the surreal over the status quo? No. If you take away the Hollywood element -- Arnold -- the script of the California recall election is a rerun with a familiar theme: no new taxes, no new taxes, no new taxes.
California's budget problem is bigger than budget problems in other states because California is bigger. But the underlying theme is very familiar, and variations on it continue to play in state capitals across the country.
As the economy slowed down, state revenue plummeted. With fewer dollars coming in, state budgets ran into deficit. Plugging those budget deficits requires dramatic spending cuts or unpopular tax increases. Taxpayers want to pay less, not more. So far they don't appear to care how much cutting it takes to achieve that goal.
A version of what happened in the Golden State happened in the Bay State a year ago. The same dynamic that is propelling Schwarzenegger to Sacramento propelled Republican Mitt Romney to Beacon Hill. The two men share more than a mouthful of shiny white teeth and political consultant Mike Murphy. They both ran as populist outsiders. With prochoice and other moderate social positions, both would have a tough time winning an ordinary issues-driven Republican primary contest.
But within the context of an entrenched, gridlocked Democratic political establishment (in Massachusetts, the Legislature; in California, the governor's office), both appealed to voters across party lines.
From the East Coast to the West, voters are sick of what they now label "politics as usual" -- the shorthand for the old practice of raising taxes to cover budget deficits. Voters prefer "politics as unusual" -- a promise to hold the line on taxes while at the same time delivering a certain hazily defined level of government services.
What is unclear after this wacky and wild California campaign is how far "politics as unusual" now goes beyond the taxation issue. Where is the line?
When it comes to sexual misconduct, does the excuse "Bill Clinton did it" now work for all political candidates or only for Republicans? Do candidates for all political offices get a pass on "bad behavior" -- the euphemism used by Schwarzenegger to describe a boorish track record that includes incidents of raising a woman's T-shirt and squeezing her breasts? Is groping OK for everyone or just for Republican gubernatorial candidates who hail from Hollywood?
Can candidates for any political office, from either major political party, refuse to debate opponents? Can they participate only in a debate where they receive the questions ahead of time? Does the standard that voters applied to Schwarzenegger in his one debate performance -- deliver rehearsed lines and demean your female opponent -- now define voter expectations for all political debate?
Should all candidates, Republicans and Democrats, throw away their position papers, their research, and their nuanced responses and simply do what Arnold did: smile and promise to change things for the better without ever explaining how?
As a first-time candidate, Schwarzenegger made two promises: He would not raise taxes or cut education. As he takes office, he inherits a deficit of at least $8 billion.
And as The Wall Street Journal pointed out: "His promised first act will only deepen the hole. He pledged to rescind a $4 billion car-tax hike that helped close the current year deficit and helps fund local police and firefighting costs."
How will he do it? He never said, and no one really knows.
But running away from reality is so much more fun than facing it. That's why we go to movies and ballgames and fantasize about actors and athletes. Escapism is the real national pastime.
Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.
