Schwarzenegger calls for new era of centrist politics
05 Jan 2007 20:38:58 GMT Source: Reuters
By Adam Tanner SACRAMENTO, Calif., Jan 5 (Reuters) - Sworn in for a second term as California's governor on Friday, Arnold Schwarzenegger called for an end to partisan bickering and a focus on innovative centrist policies. "At one time, the greatest public policy innovations came from liberals, such as during the New Deal," the Republican celebrity said. "Then the most innovative ideas came from conservatives, such as Ronald Reagan." "It is time we combined the best of both ideologies into a new creative center. This is a dynamic center that is not held captive by either the left or the right or the past," he said after arriving on crutches as he heals from a leg broken in a skiing accident. The former Mr. Olympia and Hollywood "Terminator" came to office in 2003 following an unprecedented recall in which voters fired his Democratic predecessor in a bitter partisan atmosphere. By 2005, voters had tired of Schwarzenegger's competitive style -- perhaps most famously when he called Democratic legislators "girlie men" -- and rejected a package of government overhaul initiatives for which he had campaigned in a special election called by the governor. Since then, the Republican has embraced bipartisanship in a state where Democrats dominate the legislature, and he easily won re-election in November. "In the 2005 special election, I took the wrong approach in trying to do these things. But in my failure, I rediscovered my original purpose," he said. "I saw that people, not just in California, but across the nation, were hungry for a new kind of politics, a politics that looks beyond the old labels, the old ways, the old arguments." Schwarzenegger cited a pioneering California law last year aimed at curtailing greenhouse gas emissions as a model of what he called "post-partisanship." "Post-partisanship is not simply Republicans and Democrats each bringing their proposals to the table and working out differences," he said in his inaugural speech. "Post-partisanship is Republicans and Democrats actively giving birth to new ideas together." The inaugural ceremony kicked off a busy week of initiatives for Schwarzenegger, who has typically highlighted a few major public policy issues each year with the intensive focus he once dedicated to bodybuilding and reaching stardom. On Monday he was expected to back a state program to provide health care for all California children, including illegal residents. His annual state-of-the state address setting out his legislative goals follows on Tuesday and his new fiscal year budget proposal on Wednesday.
