Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2003 | 8:53 a.m.
The ignoble departure of California Gov. Gray Davis is both a sham and a shame.
It is a sham in that Davis holds the very credentials that the White House and the Republican Party pretend to honor. The man is a former Army captain who earned the Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam. This form of patriotism goes unnoticed by the hypocritical Republicans, while pretend soldiers (action heroes) and service in the champagne division of the National Guard receive accolades.
It is a shame because Republicans like President Bush and Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger are elevated well beyond their true credentials.
True, Davis mishandled the California economy. He also engaged in the same, divisive politics that led to his political demise. But when we blur the lines of reality with the lines of fiction, each of us loses a little Americanism. We become the benefactors of pretend heroes and pretend values.
We want desperately to believe that fodder-filled men like Bush are capable of leading us. We desperately want to believe that the charisma of Schwarzenegger will equate to sound policy making. In reality we allow pretenders to blame anyone and anything but their inexperience. Denial is a powerful force in American politics.
The good news is that the verdict is still out on Schwarzenegger. I want to believe that he can lead California back to economic stability. And I want to believe that politics as usual will lose. Such is the optimism of new beginnings. Such is the powerful force of denial in American politics.
LANCE T. WEIL
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