GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER: No, I think it’s always easy in hindsight to go and say maybe if we wouldn’t have gone in, we wouldn’t have had all this hassle. But I think this is, you know, difficult to do that. I think that we had to go in, there was a threat of terrorism. I think that it was the right thing to do. It’s just now it has mushroomed into something bigger than it was ever intended to, and you know, that is always the problem. And now if it goes in the direction of civil war, how do you just walk out of that mess? So it’s just easier said than done. You know, it’s always easy when you want to attack the president, to go and say, you know, he made a mistake, he shouldn’t have done this, look at the problems we have now, let’s get out, let’s pull out and all this. You can’t just pull out of the situation, you know. So I think it’s a difficult situation to be in. It’s no different than, you know, the Vietnam War or the Korean War, any of those things we’re always in, and you try to get out but you can’t. You know, you’re kind of glued to the situation. So I think the trick is we’ve got to get out as quickly as possible, but also in a sensible way.

MR. RUSSERT: But if war is an issue in this year, 2006, you’re up for re-election in November. Are you concerned you could get swept up in an anti-Republican tide?

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER: Yes, you know, that’s always a concern. But you know, in the end, Tim, the ultimate thinking has to always go towards one thing, and this is how do we do the best job for the people. My job is how do I do the best job for the people of California, and I am going to do everything possible to go and do everything I can in order to make the state of California better. And then, in the end, it is up to the people. It’s election year, it’s up to the people to judge and say did this man really improve the state. Remember the old Ronald Reagan line, when you say that you’re better off now than you were four years ago? Well, you know, Californians are much better off today than we were four years ago. I mean, we created 500,000 new jobs, we increased our revenues from $75 billion to $92 billion. We’re building the hydrogen highway, we reformed workers compensation, we are paying down our debt now for the first time, we’re putting money into the rainy-day fund. So we’re doing all kinds of wonderful things. So, in the end, the people have to judge that: Have I done enough for them or do they want to have change?

MR. RUSSERT: Will you run as a Bush Republican?

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER: I will run as an Arnold Republican, which is that I am there to govern and to serve the people of California, meaning Democrats and Republicans. Even though there are some on the right wing that are not happy about that, that think I should only govern for Republicans, but that’s not what I promised the people of California. I always promise that I will serve everyone, and let me just tell you when it comes to service, it’s the greatest job I’ve ever had. I love it. I love being a public servant, my father-in-law was right 25 years ago when Sergeant said, ‘Arnold, this is the most honorable job you can do.’ And I just love it.

MR. RUSSERT: There have been a lot of things written about your attempt to push initiatives in the special election. The Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson wrote this: “Arnold Schwarzenegger’s nine months of governing Democratic California as a partisan Republican came to the most predictable of unhappy endings. Each of the four ballot measures he inflicted on voters in his special election lost decisively, his spending-limit proposal tanking, his measure to curb the clout of public sector unions losing. The mystery of this election is ‘what on earth Schwarzenegger could have been thinking.’ No comparable elected official in recent memory has picked a fight so gratuitously and come out of it so beat-up.”

Do you agree?

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, what I agree is that it was worth the fight. These are very important reforms that have to take place. We have a dysfunctional system in California. I was sent to Sacramento and I was elected by the people of California to fix the broken system. And this is what I did. Now did I do it the right way? Did I not make mistakes? Of course, I made mistakes. I think that I rushed it too much, I was too much in a—in a hurry. But I mean, as you know, this is my style. I set certain goals, and I say this has to be done at that time, and I think that when you’re in public service and when you are doing things in the political arena, you have to maybe take more time in nurturing those things along, and so maybe I rushed it too much.

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But they’re the right causes. It’s very important that we redo our education system, our budget system, our redistricting system. It is dysfunctional. It doesn’t work in that thing. It was the right fight. And you know, sometimes when you go out and you battle it out, sometimes you lose and sometimes you win. It’s the same in weightlifting. Sometimes you try the 500 pounds and you can’t lift it; other times, you can lift it. And so, this is like my wife said to my kids. You know, there’s no shame in losing. The shame is in not trying. And we tried hard, and we will continue trying.

You know, I’m not doing things in the way—in the traditional way. People always try to put me in a box and say, “Is he on the left or is he on the right?” You can’t put me in a box because I’m just there trying to do what is best for California. You know, sometimes I also make mistakes going about doing these things. So that’s OK, but you know I have accomplished great things in these last two years. If you think about it, where California was two years ago, almost in bankruptcy, and now we’re pushing everything forward, and I think California is doing great.

MR. RUSSERT: But the Democrats smell blood. They think you’re weak. Bob Mulholland, former Democratic chairman who’s advising one of your opponents, said this, “He was a pit bull last year, and now after the special elections, he is an old French poodle.”

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER: You want me to respond to that? I don’t respond to Bob Mulholland. Trust me.

MR. RUSSERT: How about the ...

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER: I am the same—remember one thing. I am the same Arnold. I am as determined to fix California and the problems. This is the year of rebuilding California. We’re going to go out there. We have proposed at the State of the State address $222 billion infrastructure proposal.

MR. RUSSERT: I want to get to that, but you won’t be calling the Democrats “girlie men” anymore?

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, if necessary, I will. But I mean, you know, this is not what I do right now. But let them do the calling. This is OK with me.

MR. RUSSERT: Let me show you the latest poll of all Californians. They have your approval rating at 35 percent, your disapproval at 53. Why do more than a majority of Californians rate the job you’re doing as governor so poorly?

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, let me tell you something, that some people pay a lot of attention to polls. And I think that we all like to be liked and loved and, you know, to be doing—to get the great approval rating and all this. But you know, the numbers that I pay more attention to are the numbers that we see when we see, for instance, the unbelievable decrease in the budget infrastructure deficit to 75 percent; to see an increase of 500,000 people getting more—getting jobs in California; to see the increase in revenues that we have; to see the increase of businesses that are coming in; to see the increase in salaries and wages that people make. Those are the numbers that I care about ultimately. Even though I like also to get great approval ratings, but I pay more attention to the progress and the success we have in the state, and the rest of it I leave up, you know, to the critics.

CONTINUED

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