Governor Schwarzenegger entered office in California back in 2003 vowing to work with everyone to solve the State's problems; I got a good chuckle out of this. What Schwarnegger didn't know, because he wasn't a politician, is that the other side doesn't want to solve problems, they want them to fester and grow so that they'll have future campaign issues. This is especially true when the agent of change is a Republican and the out Party is the Democrats.

Joe Gandleman over at The Moderate Voice observes Governor Schwarzenegger's recent poll slump and notes:

Schwarzenegger has walked a political tightrope. He has taken strong stands on issues such as the environment and liberal stands on abortion and other social issues. On the other hand, he campaigned for Bush, has had to battle Democrats over his list of state reforms — thus setting himself up as primarily going against one political party — and due to the specificity of his reforms set himself up smack dab against groups such as the state's teachers.

While the slump in to the 40 percent range in approval is worrisome for any politician seeking re-election, we can also say "wait and see" because one poll doesn't equal a trend, and this particular poll might have been a bit manufactured to get the anti-Govinator result desired. Still and all, Mr. Schwarzenegger has become a politician at last; figuring out, as fellow-actor and one-time governor Jesse Ventura never did, that when you want to do things in politics you will have opposition, and you have to identify it and fight it. Regardless of how much a sound-biting Democratic pol says he wants to work with the governor, the plain fact of the matter is that said Dem pol wants the governor out of office and so will do whatever he can to make life miserable...the battle in 2006, if Schwarzenegger decides to seek re-election, wont be The Govinator against Special Interests (the preferred position of people who haven't a clue about politics), but Republican Governor Schwarzenegger against the Democrats.