Arnie in the age of ultra-Patriotism

America is a place of constant change and contradiction, and Arnold Schwarzenegger is a good example of this. Far from being an echo of the ultra patriotic and conservative style adopted by most 21^st century Republicans, Schwarzenegger as Governor of California was a prototype of a new sort of Republican. He could well provide the template for how Republicans will be like in 20 years from now.

The “Govenator” of “Caleefornia” was far more pragmatic and internationalist than most other senior figures within the Republican Party and much more of an environmentalist. If recent American politics has often become a split between parochial nativists like Palin and cosmopolitans like Obama then Arnie is clearly on the cosmopolitan side. It is not that surprising that someone with such Hollywood and Kennedy connections governing California was more outward looking than proudly insular.

Nonetheless, Schwarzenegger’s policies as Governor bucked the general conservative Republican trends of this century. At present he looks like a one of a kind type of politician: a man who certainly owed no great loyalty to any political machine or the Republican Party.

However, his greatest legacy may well be that he charted a path for Republicans that is ultimately very different from that promoted by George W. Bush or Sarah Palin.