New Governor, New Feel

According to the Los Angeles Times, although Jerry Brown officially took the governor’s seat just yesterday, Sacramento already feels different.

The new governor’s inauguration on Monday morning must have been old hat for him, seeing as Brown is now taking control of California for the third time. Unlike former governor Schwarzenegger, who liked to run the Capitol as if it was the White House, playing a part in the national government, Brown aims to use his seat to reach out to local California governments. Although he did speak about Californians needing to make sacrifices in order to bring about change, his methods are pretty relaxed - especially when compared to Schwarzenegger’s attitude, with his motto of “action, action, action.”

But Brown isn’t only relaxed when it comes to making public policy. Unlike Schwarzenegger, who encouraged fanfare, entourages, and the like, Brown creates little to-do. “Where Schwarzenegger plotted to entertain and astonish, Brown appears to wing it, as he did throughout most of his career.” Brown’s administration wouldn’t even commit to stick with a schedule for the new governor’s first day in office.

How does our government deal with these drastic changes from one leader to another, especially when “it’s like watching a case of bipolar disorder?” (Barbara O’Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at Sacramento State). Did Schwarzenegger plan too much, or is Brown coming into office too relaxed?

As a side note – I guess when you schedule everything down to a tee, you have time to both be a governor and a movie star. The other day at Blockbuster I saw a movie with Schwarzenegger on the cover. When did it come out? 2007. Enough said.