Schwarzenegger Nation

Arnold Schwarzenegger's successful run for governor has been a long time coming.

The day the "Entertainment" section on CNN.com was placed one slot above the "Politics" section, the stage was set for Arnold's victory.

When more kids knew the name of J-Lo's fianc?(c)e than the name of the Secretary of State, the Terminator's candidacy was a lock.

The cult of celebrity dominates our country, and national political dialogue has taken a back seat. What else can explain the fact that a muscle-bound action movie star, who has never held political office in his life, is now in charge of the richest and most populous state in America?

The recall election, start to finish, cost California taxpayers $67 million and derailed the state government for months. Gray Davis, the current governor, had to spend two months on the campaign trail instead of actually governing his state. Ditto for the lieutenant governor.

Now, Davis will have to hand over control of the state to a political newborn. Who knows how long it will take Arnold to learn the basics of governing? Even if the Terminator is a fast learner, it will take months of adjustment.

The point is that the recall itself was illogical, but not nearly as mind-boggling as the fact Arnold beat out experienced political candidates for the seat.

Arnold received outstanding support before ever articulating a campaign stance. When Arnold announced his candidacy on the Tonight Show, he immediately leaped to the front of the polls, and stayed there, even though the only specific references he made early on as to plans for California were abstract statements like "We need more jobs" or "I'm going to rid Sacramento of special interests."

Later, he fleshed out some stances, but the focus of the campaign was clearly still his celebrity image. Arnold did very few interviews with the legitimate press, refused to debate any candidates except once, and most of what came out of his mouth then was a Hollywood slogan or movie self-reference.

There is just no debate Schwarzenegger was the least experienced of any of the major candidates, Republican or Democrat.

So what were people thinking?

People were probably thinking Arnold the man is the same as Arnold the action hero. Arnold the action hero is courageous, strong, honorable and always comes out on top.

Arnold the man is not courageous, unless one considers groping women courageous. He is not honorable, unless one considers admiration of Adolf Hitler honorable.

Many people are unable to disconnect Arnold's on-screen persona from his real character, and that is a problem. Schwarzenegger's victory is the product of a culture increasingly focused on image rather than substance, on a counterfeit world of celebrity rather than a very real world of politics, life and death.

The Terminator's rise to governor is only part of the picture, unfortunately. George W. Bush distracted people from the fact we went to war and killed thousands in the name of neutralizing a threat that never existed by putting on a pilot's costume and landing aboard an aircraft carrier decorated like a movie set - and many people bought it.

Even more egregiously, the Bush administration commissioned a filmmaker friend to write a movie about Sept. 11, starring a pseudo-Bush as the heroic protagonist who guides a horrified nation through a troubled time. The film aired last month on Showtime, and featured the movie Bush doing all kinds of things the real Bush never does - stringing together complete sentences, for example.

This fictionalization of real leaders has roots in the earliest days of our democracy, when the story about George Washington and the cherry tree circulated the young nation. With the rise of technology and new media, however, the trend is becoming dangerous, and when the Terminator is elected to high political office, it has gone too far.

Instead of recalling competent political leaders in favor of the forged image of a politician, Americans need to recall that what they see on television or in a movie theater is not reality, and treating it as such in the voting booth can have a real effect on dollars and lives.