Governor’s Penchant for Taking Big Steps Has Tripped Him Up

At this juncture, Arnold Schwarzenegger has to be judged a weak governor. I blame that mostly on his bodybuilder’s mentality.

The former Mr. Olympia believes everything he does must be the greatest, the grandest, the most colossal. He shows little patience for merely “good.”

Schwarzenegger also must always be an action hero. The screen star came to Sacramento seemingly larger than life, demanding in his first meeting with legislative leaders: “Action, action, action, action.”

Never mind that American democracy isn’t set up that way. No star can dictate the script. Supporting players also have decisive roles. Checks and balances encourage caution before action -- and incrementalism, rather than Mao-like “great leaps forward.”

In this country, true greatness emerges during times of true crisis: Washington in the revolution, Lincoln in the Civil War, FDR during the Great Depression and World War II.

Pat Brown was a great governor -- a historic builder -- but even he moved incrementally. He didn’t muddy up his water bond with highways or schools.

Add to California’s inherited checks and balances some additional, self-imposed, paralyzing rules -- such as the Legislature’s two-thirds majority vote requirement for money bills -- and even incrementalism becomes difficult.

But Schwarzenegger hasn’t understood this. He has insisted on achieving the biggest and the most -- an instant chapter in the history books. He hasn’t figured out that what works on Muscle Beach and in Hollywood isn’t necessarily the formula for Sacramento.

This all came to mind recently when I read something Schwarzenegger had said early last month at the Arnold Classic bodybuilding show in Columbus, Ohio.

A reporter asked the governor about intense negotiations in Sacramento over his unprecedented $70-billion-plus infrastructure bond proposal, part of a gargantuan $222-billion plan to build highways, commuter rails, bike paths, schools, levees, water facilities, jails, courtrooms and fire stations. Would he be disappointed if the Legislature scaled that back to, say, $30 billion?

“Yes, yes,” Schwarzenegger replied. “Because you can’t with $30 billion build what we need to build.

“It’s the same thing if I go to you in a bodybuilding competition and I say, ‘Would you be happy with a huge muscular chest and triceps and lats and deltoids, but no abs and no thighs and no calves?’ You would say I would look very odd. I would look very top heavy.

“Would you be really happy if your body functions very well, but your brain is not functioning very well?

“It’s a half thing. It’s off.”

I don’t pretend to know about lats and abs, but I do understand how the body politic works. It usually can’t digest a large platter of varied substance.

Soon after his return from the Ohio muscle show, the Legislature -- Democrats and Republicans -- emphatically rejected Schwarzenegger’s big bond package.

Legislative leaders, without the governor, today will resume trying to negotiate an infrastructure plan pared to around $30 billion, still a record. It would be more narrowly focused on levee repairs, highway building, transit help, school construction and some affordable housing.

Schwarzenegger may be learning his limitations. Aides say he’ll probably wave the white flag and accept whatever infrastructure proposal the Legislature sends him because, after all, any bond bill will require some Republican support.

Politically, the governor would benefit as he seeks reelection by running on the November ballot with a bipartisan infrastructure plan, a sorely needed resume enhancer.

And California would benefit because it badly needs to start rebuilding its infrastructure.

“He does think big, I give him credit for that,” says Senate GOP Leader Dick Ackerman of Irvine. “But when you’re so far behind [on infrastructure], you’ve got to start somewhere. Take Step One now, maybe Step Two and Step Three in the future.

“The numbers he was talking about scare Republicans. His larger bond had too many pieces and got out of hand. We need to cut it down to get it through the Legislature.”

Schwarzenegger’s 2 1/2 -year tenure as governor has been marked by a series of attempts to lift record-setting weights, most of which he has dropped on his toe:

* Bypassing the Legislature immediately after taking office, he cut an unprecedented budget deal with school interests. It turned out to be a bad deal for him. He over-promised and reneged, turning valued allies into fierce enemies.

* He pledged to “blow up the boxes” of bureaucracy, a mishandled effort that fizzled.

* Despite the warnings of his wife and advisors, he called a special election last year to push some dubious “reforms.” No governor ever had placed his own initiative on a special election ballot and succeeded, but Schwarzenegger believed none had been blessed with his muscle. He failed and it sapped his strength.

“He feels if he’s not pushing against the limits, he’s not going to change things,” says Times reporter Joe Mathews, who’s on leave writing a book about Schwarzenegger. “The guy does not want for confidence.”

Laurence Leamer, in his Schwarzenegger biography, “Fantastic,” writes: “Arnold always had to be on the edge, testing the limits of his invincibility.”

He’s not looking at all invincible these days. In fact, this governor is in danger of setting a very undesirable record: Getting the swiftest boot from office by voters since California went to four-year terms in the 1860s.

George Skelton writes Monday and Thursday. Reach him at george.skelton@latimes.com.