Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Voices of the Community

To many across the globe Schwarzenegger is Conan the Barbarian, Hollywood’s He-man, Mr. Universe, and the great Zeus of bodybuilding. His movies are violent and mindless. But now he is a man of politics, the new governor-elect of California

The incredible election of Schwarzenegger is still a surprise unfolding in the American elections, though there is always Jesse Ventura, a world wrestler known as “The Body” who became Governor of Minnesota in 1998 elections.

The recall election was not one of issues or ideas; it was more of a referendum on Governor Gray Davis, a technocrat with dwindling popularity and unsuccessful policies. But if Schwarzenegger could win a gubernatorial US election where else could it be but California, where image is the real thing, a state that is not only tolerant of but promotes personal reinvention.

A Closer Look

Schwarzenegger is an immigrant who came from Austria with limited education and definitely penniless, but then again these are qualifications of many immigrants who come to America.

One thing that characterized him though is his ability to reinvent himself from one role to another and move upward with each role. Based on his physical qualifications he launched his acting career which then took him to international stardom, not because of his acting talents but because of his physical talents. Though his first movies heavily relied on the size of his muscles (he was sited in the Guinness Book of record twice; once for his 22.5 inch bicep, the second time for having the worst American accent among celebrities), the many movies that followed had a more sophisticated plot and screen script included more lines as his heavy German accent improved.

He invested his increasing income in real estate and his investments paid off.

His marriage into America’s royal family The Kennedys, (his wife Maria Shriver is niece of the late President JFK) then took him to another world of fame; the world of politics and power.

Though married to a Democrat, the ideas of the Republicans appealed more to his ambitions, his love of wealth, great admiration and quest for power, and machismo-ness.

By the early 1990s he was already taking a real role in the Republican Party Convention, and he used his acting career and financial leverage to foster relations with key political figures, and gradually started to establish himself as a public figure, not as an actor, but as defender of community policies. Right after 9/11 when tourism was hit in the golden state he went with a delegation from the Republican Party to Japan in an attempt to promote tourism as well as business opportunities.

Meanwhile his efforts in working with the more disenfranchised inner city kids through his own charity portrayed him as a caring celebrity. The After School Education and Safety Act of 2002, a.k.a Proposition 49, was a brilliant idea to boost such image. This initiative, which he directed and lobbied for, called for federal funds to provide after school care for California public elementary and junior high schools, this initiative which was hailed by the public presented a more humane profile of someone whose successful career was based on selling violence on the screen.

The recall election was the golden opportunity for Schwarzenegger’s long admiration for the power and influence of politics. Governor Gray Davis was losing his popularity, and the Democratic Party made a grave mistake by not putting a better alternative on the ballot cards to compete with Davis. A tactic seen by many analysts as a fatal mistake in the election because it did not provide the electorate with someone strong who could beat the Republican candidates.

Schwarzenegger’s campaign was a mixture of politics and show business, and the several allegations against him, especially charges of sexual harassment against women years ago, were quickly and swiftly hushed away as dirty politics. Then again, even if those charges were real, if the former US President got away with similar acts while he was in office, wouldn’t a movie star with Arnold’s caliber be able to deal with them?

Come October 8, and it seemed that Schwarzenegger’s charisma and character did work their magic with Californians, the world wakes up to find that the terminator is no longer a movie star, but rather a statesman.

But what after the election? Can Schwarzenegger deal with the many issues at hand while lacking much of the political background and experience needed for the job?  

What about Muslims?

The other question that keeps pressing is about how his governorship is going to affect the interests of the Muslim community.

To understand the weight of the Muslim community, it is important to know what the issues at stake are and what the governor-elect’s position is.

To this moment, the international foreign policy of the US remains on top of the concerns of the majority of American Muslims; with the conflict in the Middle East, Pakistani-Indian relations, Muslim minorities in other parts of the world, and the war on terrorism. Domestically, the issues are racial and religious profiling, work place discrimination, Patriot Act and Secret Evidence laws; in short all are civil rights issues.

But all these issues are not of interest to Schwarzenegger, at least not in his past careers.

On foreign policy Schwarzenegger has shown minimal knowledge, although mainly the war in Iraq and its aftermath is a highly contested issue that many Hollywood stars have chosen to adopt one position or another on how the current administration handled it. It was clear that during his election campaign he deliberately steered away from international affairs. The campaign’s focus was not how America is doing outside its territory; it was the state’s budget and economic deficit.

Even before he ran for governor, his views were very limited on foreign policy. In an interview with Chris Matthews on “Hard Ball,” airing on MSNBC on October 29, 2002, he opined on the war on Iraq saying:

I think that the important thing to know is, which is great about this country, when it comes to domestic issues, we all battle it out and fight it between the parties and all those kind of things to get things done, but when it comes to foreign issues, overseas kind of things, then we all speak with one voice. And our president feels very strongly that we should do something about the Iraq situation. Congress has voted in a large majority for the president to give him the power to go to war with Iraq. I am one of the people that is 100 percent behind the president, as we, all Americans ought to be.

His views on the war on terrorism reflected an even deeper ignorance about the subject matter, when asked about how he felt about the war on terrorism his answer was:

Well, to be honest, I’m not the expert on the war on terrorism, because I think there are people in Washington from the White House to the CIA and everyone else that is-and the FBI, all the experts that deal with this issue, and I think that they have much more insight on what the cause of it is and how it happens and how do we prevent it from happening, so I don’t want to become the expert here. I think it would be very presumptuous to maybe come up with ideas. I think they are on the right track and they’re doing all the best that they can do.

His honest answers are appreciated, but strangely enough these were the views of a celebrity who in less than a year became the governor-elect of a key state that usually determines who wins the Presidential race.

Unfortunately enough it is the same state where over a million Muslims reside with one of the highest community concentrations across the country. The challenge that faces the community lies in how Schwarzenegger’s views may develop in the future, the problem then arises when people with minimum understanding of international relations are put in a decision-making situation, their decisions could be disastrous. They are more likely to take foreign policy as an adventure. They are also prone to follow advice and suggestions that may not be in the best interest of their constituents.

Given the limited capabilities of the Muslim and Arab communities as a political lobby, and the even smaller influence in the Hollywood and movie-making industry which Schwarzenegger relates more with, it is not a far-fetched assumption that he may not rely on advice from the community or that he will attend less to its concerns.

At the same time, turbulences within the international scene overspill on the domestic, the violence in the Middle East, especially between the Palestinian factions and the Israeli government, is interpreted by the majority of the US mainstream media as another front of the war on terrorism, not a war for independence. And the Jewish lobby has been very effective in supporting this perception.

Schwarzenegger has maintained strong relations with the Jewish community and lobbies in the US, to the extent that news of his father’s affiliation with the Nazi forces and his own earlier remarks in admiration of Hitler’s power did not hurt his campaign, and ultimately his victory was secured.

It is worth noting that this is not only a result of his connections made during his acting career and the strong relations with the Jewish lobby in control of the show business, but also because Schwarzenegger was a very generous philanthropist who donated generously towards Jewish causes. He was awarded in both 1991 and 1997, with the Simon Wiesenthal Center's "National Leadership Award" for his support of the organization's Holocaust studies. When he wanted to close the file on his father’s affiliation he asked a Jewish organization to investigate his past and even paid for it. He then made sure to distance himself from such affiliation.

The worlds that Schwarzenegger came from that are bodybuilding, sports, and show business, are the worlds in which Muslims have minimum existence, if any.

Schwarzenegger’s current concerns as a governor-elect are focused on presenting solutions to California’s domestic problems; mainly the budget deficit, the education, the pollution, etc. Unfortunately the Muslim and Arab immigrant communities have not totally adopted these domestic complaints on their own agenda. The immigrant community’s main concerns are still engulfed in racial profiling, discrimination and other civil rights issues. 

The politics of decision making in the US are a closely knitted web of lobbying and involvement. Unless the Muslim community becomes engaged enough either on the local or the state level in issues such as commerce, economy, education and energy, and master the rules of political engagement, decisions on issues of concern, be they domestic or international, will be made outside of the community’s realm and by other more involved forces.

Dina Rashed is coordinator, correspondent and staff-writer for IslamOnline based in Chicago, IL.

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