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Fires boost Schwarzenegger's image

2007-10-30 04:26:13

By LAURA KURTZMAN, Associated Press WriterMon Oct 29, 10:16 PM ET

The crowd roared its approval over the weekend as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

tossed the coin to start the San Diego Chargers game at Qualcomm Stadium, which

just days earlier had been an emergency shelter for thousands of people driven

from their homes by raging wildfires.

Schwarzenegger appears to have gotten a powerful boost in public approval from

his reassuring and highly visible handling of the biggest crisis to hit his

administration.

Still, given that Schwarzenegger is a Republican in a heavily Democratic state,

many analysts doubt this outpouring of affection will enable him to resuscitate

his plan for universal health care or get his way on some of his other

bogged-down legislative projects.

The disaster did play to the celebrity governor's strength for connecting with

people and his taste for decisive action.

Schwarzenegger appeared nonstop on television, comforting fire victims and

bucking up their exhausted rescuers. He chaperoned Homeland Security Secretary

Michael Chertoff and President Bush while they got a look at the destruction.

During a tour of Qualcomm at the peak of the crisis, he said he had made sure

that evacuees had baby food and toilet paper.

There was a festive atmosphere at Qualcomm when Schwarzenegger arrived for a

visit to the evacuation center last week. Evacuees seemed more star-struck than

desperate. When the governor swept by, they pulled out their camera phones and

hooted to get his attention.

Analysts said the former action hero instinctively understood the drama of the

moment and projected optimism and calm.

"I think people find him a reassuring figure who does a good job at speaking

directly to the news media," said Bill Carrick, a Democratic consultant. "He

has a sense of what to do in these situations."

Disasters, both manmade and natural, are a leader's ultimate testing ground.

They can remake someone's image as the Sept. 11 attacks did for Rudy Giuliani

or destroy it, as Hurricane Katrina did to Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco.

The disaster that California faced was far less severe, with at least seven

deaths blamed directly on the fire, an estimated 2,000 homes burned, and half a

million people evacuated from their homes. But Schwarzenegger used the crisis

to emphasize at every turn that government was there to help relieve people's

misery.

"America's cities and states have learned from mistakes that were made in the

past," Schwarzenegger said a week ago at Qualcomm Stadium, drawing a contrast

to the chaos that ensued after Katrina. "I will be relentless all the way

through this."

California's response to the disaster has generally been regarded as good. But

there have been tough questions about why certain firefighting planes and

helicopters remained on the ground, as well as whether the state and local

agencies had all the equipment and firefighters they needed.

Analysts said that may eventually bring Schwarzenegger down a bit from the

highs he enjoyed in the fire's immediate aftermath.

"He's a movie actor; he understands symbolism very well," said Garry South, a

Democratic consultant. "But I think, beyond that, there's going to be a lot of

questions about whether the state was prepared for this kind of wildfire

emergency."

In a poll in September, 50 percent of Californians approved of the way he was

doing his job. That was down slightly from when he was re-elected last

November, but for a California governor and especially a Republican one

that was considered high. No polls on his popularity have been done since the

fires broke out more than a week ago.

What he could do with this newfound affection is unclear. His term runs through

2010 and he cannot run for re-election. He has not said what he plans to do

next.

The governor's health reform plan is on life support and his proposal to shore

up the state's aging water system also is stalled. Analysts said those logjams

are likely to persist.

"Legislators aren't going to change their minds about health care reform just

because he put a lot of work into the wildfire," said Jack Pitney, a professor

of government at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California.

"But in the public mind, it enhances his reputation. It's one of the things

people expect from a chief executive. On a lesser scale, he's getting the kind

of boost that Giuliani got from 9/11."