On the day of the California recall election in 2003, I was on the University of California campus asking students whom they planned to vote for and why.
Beyond the predictable immature musings offered by those who planned to vote for Gary Coleman, Larry Flynt, and Angelyne, a number of students said they planned to vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger.
One student stood out because of their reason for voting for Schwarzenegger, offering, "I think it would be cool to have the Terminator on my diploma."
The aforementioned statement in some measure is reflective of the legacy of California's 38th Governor.
To speak about the legacy of anyone holding an executive office in government, be it president, governor, or mayor, immediately following the conclusion of the individual's term is somewhat premature.
It required several decades before revisionist historians examined former President Harry Truman in a light more favorable than his dismal approval rating might indicate when he left office in 1953. But Truman was featured on the cover of a 2007 Newsweek magazine titled: "Wanted: A New Truman: Does anyone in the 2008 (presidential) field have what it takes?"
In the spirit of Truman, Californians might one day long for a "new Schwarzenegger."
Numbers, nor tangible accomplishments, tell the whole story. As Schwarzenegger leaves office, California has the nation's lowest credit rating. And the projected $25.4 billion budget deficit is substantially larger than the $10.2 billion deficit he inherited from ousted Governor Gray Davis.
But Schwarzenegger's legacy must also include landmark environmental laws, public works spending and some political reform.
Whatever historians ultimately say about the legacy of Schwarzenegger as governor, it's not too early to include naïveté as part of the equation.
Schwarzenegger is the $66 million recall response in 2003 to the question that had already been asked and answered in 2002, with the reelection of Davis. A plurality of Californians gave a new answer.
Ironically, Schwarzenegger leaves office with an approval rating rivaling Davis' 23 percent when his term came to an abrupt end--a final critique on California's recall experiment.
It was naïve to believe that California's economic ills could be cured with a recall election and it was equally unsophisticated for Schwarzenegger to believe he could, by the power of his personality, solve California's intractable challenges.
His star power proved an unworthy adversary to holding members of his own party in line. Schwarzenegger discovered, during annual budget stalemates, that the governor of California may be the titular head of his or her party but does not possess the rewards and punishment mechanisms necessary to cajole legislators to cast tough votes--weakening him against the opposition.
Once in office Schwarzenegger maintained his campaign promise by re-cutting the vehicle license fee (VLF) that Davis increased because the economy was in decline and the surplus had disappeared. But the cut in the VLF, though initially popular with many, left an additional $6 billion hole in the state budget.
Schwarzenegger, throughout his seven years in office, held to his values of progressive social policy and fiscal discipline. But his legacy will also include his failure, as he promised during the 2003 campaign, to "blow up the boxes of government."
By his own acknowledgment, Schwarzenegger's 2005 special election was a bad idea. The four proposed ballot measures to shake up the state's power structure were handily defeated by the voters.
Whether the measures were poorly crafted or the electorate had grown weary with its fourth consecutive statewide election, the window of opportunity for Schwarzenegger truly being a transformative figure in California politics had closed.
It is rare when politicians are granted the opportunity to be change agents. I believe this was within Schwarzenegger's grasp, but it quickly slipped away.
He momentarily had the goodwill of enough Californians to address the state's structural problems. After that 2005 special election, he became a somewhat pedestrian politician whose primary concern was reelection.
But California was dysfunctional before Schwarzenegger entered office and it will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.
The Schwarzenegger legacy is a mixed bag containing accomplishments and disappointments.
Because he was first elected through the California recall, his legacy must also be viewed through our collective desire to solve a long-term problem through immediate gratification--not to mention having the Terminator on one's diploma.
How cool is that?