Hit the Road, Quack

In the classic MelBrooks film "Young Frankenstein," Baron Beaufort Von Frankenstein'slast will and testament loudly bemoans the fact that "there was a timewhen the name Frankenstein conjured dreams of virtue." The implicationis that Baron Von Frankenstein's name now conjures the opposite, andindeed, given what we all know of Mary Shelley's novel, this would be arealistic implication.

Similarly, environmentalists all over California maybe loudly bemoaning the fact that there was a time when the nameSchwarzenegger conjured dreams of "appeasement," "bipartisanship,""enlightenment," and other words which Leftists routinely invoke tosoften the blow when Nixonian gutlessness takes precedence overprinciple among supposedly conservative politicians. But much likeBaron Beaufort's legacy, Governor Schwarzenegger's legacy as the shineon the shoes of California Democrats (so named because of the constantapplications of his tongue to said objects) is now over. Now, almost asif he has been placed on an operating table and had his brain replacedwith the brain of Ronald Reagan or Barry Goldwater, Schwarzenegger isrising up with thunderous endorsements of a truly conservative agenda,causing the Leftists to go for their pitchforks while Republicansjoyously scream "It's alive!"

The most recent example of Schwarzenegger's sudden discovery of a spine comes from the Los Angeles Times,which reports that the governor has decided to fast track thedevelopment of several highway projects, despite their dubiousenvironmental consequences. This move has made environmentalistseverywhere emerge from the woodwork en masse, bearing looks of horror.And like the stray bits of granola which may or may not be still stuckin the teeth of these detractors, it certainly appears that theenvironmentalists have become the irrelevant leftovers of GovernorSchwarzenegger's former political sustenance as a "moderate."

Of course, Schwarzenegger is arguing that he has no intention of abandoning the environmentalists permanently - the Timesreports that Schwarzenegger's Caltrans director believes the governor'stemporary suspension of environmental action to be a response to "aneconomic emergency  requires we look for ways to create jobs."For the sake of argument, let's assume that Schwarzenegger is sincerein saying that he does not wish to gut the environmentalist agendawithin his cabinet. If this is really true, then Schwarzenegger musthave a terrible blind spot when it comes to the consequences of hisactions, which is not something which a politician as historicallycynical as he is should have. Schwarzenegger must know that what hisintentions are in this case are completely irrelevant because of hislack of credulity with both his own party and the Democrats, and thatif he cannot get a budget compromise passed due to the opposition of Republican senators, it would be sheer folly to think that he could get environmental regulations reinstated after they have already been gutted.

Again, it is unlikely that a politician as clever as Schwarzeneggerwould believe something this silly, so why the disavowals? Well,because Schwarzenegger is far too savvy to personally disavow his"enlightened" image just to get on the good side of the minority partyin California's legislature. Pretty much all political actors know thatenvironmentalism is a dead dog nationally, even to the point that oneof the most liberal online papers published an angry denunciationof Al Gore's scare tactics. But in California, home of Hollywood andSan Francisco, environmentalism still carries a lot of water. As such,Schwarzenegger is doing the smartest thing he can do with this highwayproject - relaxing the environmental regulations in the name of"crisis" and letting the rest of his party give the boot to themalcontents.