Recall
Well, I
just finished watching the
California recall candidates'
debate, and nothing that I
witnessed changes my
"No" vote on the recall
portion of the ballot. Indeed, if
there was a winner tonight it was
Gray Davis, and he wasn't even
there!
 The whole format was
set up wrong. To begin with, it
should have been staged in
techno-savvy L.A. instead of
Sacramento. This would have
insured that the production
wouldn't look like Public Access
T.V. Next, Arnold Schwarzeneger,
with his extensive experience as
a performer, should have been the
moderator not a candidate,
thereby anchoring the debate
while giving it drama, flair and
perhaps even poignancy. As it
was, it had none of these things.
It reminded me of a dream I once
had in which I was reading a book
that was so dull, I woke up out
of boredom.
Someone
should tell Cruz Bustamonte that,
with his beautiful baritone
voice, he should be a singer, not
a politician. His "You don't
understand how Sacramento
works" mantra when under
fire betrays the condescension
inherent in professional policy
wonks, and like Peter Camejo,
he's never met an illegal
immigrant he didn't like.
Arrianna
Huffington is a clever wit and
entertaining writer whose
influence would actually recede
were she to become governor.
She's far more useful and
instructive right where she is as
a columnist and frequent
talk-show guest, unencumbered by
political partisanship. I liked
the fact that she was the only
candidate to exhort her opponents
to look at the "Bigger
Picture" during the debate,
though I must confess I can't
help but wonder about the
judgement of someone married to a
gay man without knowing it.
Peter
Camejo sounded beseeching and
kept thanking the questioners for
their questions. I'm suspicious
of too much politeness. Reminds
me of Norman Bates.
That
leaves Tom McClintock, who
appeared the most gubernatorial,
well prepared, comfortable and
poised. But he is a conservative
Republican, and for him to become
governor of California would be
like putting a saddle on a cow.
All
in all, the recall debate was the
civic equivalent of lite beer,
when what was really needed were
straight shots of Jack Daniels!
There was no passion, only
time-worn lip service; no
electricity, only scripted and
predictable dialogue. There were
all the usual promises that will
be broken, and no tough questions
demanding tough answers. This
made U.N. debates look like
barroom brawls! T.V. test
patterns are more interesting to
watch! I got the feeling that
most of the candidates were first
trying to convince themselves
that they weren't merely
pretenders to the throne. But it
appears that they are. So where
does that leave us? Probably back
where we began, with Gray Davis
being reelected governor (again).
And won't we feel silly for
having put ourselves through
this...?
|
