Why I Still Like Arnold

I voted "yes" on a couple of Arnold's four-pack of ballot measures and "no" on a couple of others. I actually read them, thought about them and voted what I thought was right. But I couldn't bring myself during the campaign to hate Arnold Schwarzenegger as much as some of these nasty ads wanted me to, and I can't bring myself to feel satisfaction and swagger at his defeat the way a lot of those people seem to feel now either.

"The buck stops with me."

The thing about Arnold is that he called this special election because he sincerely wanted to bring about the reform he ran on and he thought this was the way to do it. He has a good heart.

He also takes responsibility. You can read some of his remarks at Wednesday's news conference by clicking here.

"I don't blame or point fingers at anybody. In fact, I want to do the opposite. I want to say thank you to my team. I want to say thank you for your hard work, working day and night. I also had volunteers working very hard. ... Everyone was trying their best, but the buck stops with me. I take full responsibility for this special election. I take full responsibility for its failure. I take full responsibility for everything."

Moreover, the man has a sense of humor. He also said this today:

"If I were to do another Terminator movie, I would have the Terminator travel back in time to tell Arnold not to have a special election."

He also said that his wife, Maria Shriver, has told him not to do it and that he probably should have listened to her.

I'm still a Democrat son-of-a-school-teacher and a union member who likes Arnold Schwarzenegger and am glad he's the governor. I'm just going to have to learn to live with that.