Meg Whitman as governor?

Sharon and I had a chance to meet and listen to a Republican candidate for governor, Meg Whitman. She indicated her focus would be on three things to improve California’s situation – jobs, education, and economics. I was impressed with her for several reasons.

First, she comes across well in public. She speaks naturally, giving her main points clearly and enthusiastically. She interacts well with the public on a one-to-one basis. She has a sense of humor but combines it with the seriousness of purpose.

In addition, her background gives her credibility on those three issues. Meg is the former CEO of eBay, taking it from a small company to a world powerhouse. I didn’t realize it, but she told us that the eBay is now the home for over one million small businesses. With California losing tons of jobs to nearby states, she may be the one person who has the ability to stop this trend. She stressed again and again the value of small businesses to the health of the state. I also think we need a person with her background to help straighten out our terrible financial situation. We need a CEO to run the state, unlike Arnie’s movie-star approach.

Speaking of movie stars, I was also struck by something she said regarding popularity. She told the audience she does not expect her solutions to be popular because there will be many special interests who will oppose her. But she said she was not worried by that; she seeks results, not love and popularity. I always thought Arnie was too much the movie star, seeking adoration rather than doing the difficult job of leading California out of its messes.

Does she have any liabilities? Meg is not as socially conservative as I would like when it comes to abortion; she is pro-choice. But she indicated she is not in favor of any late-term abortions, she supports parental notification, and she is against partial-birth abortions. I would take her any day when I consider the social positions of her opponents in the Democratic Party. Politics is not about getting everything you want. I get upset at the purists who will only back those with whom they agree completely on all issues. We can still work as private citizens to change the hearts and minds of our neighbors when it comes to social issues.

Some may wonder if Meg would have any power in Sacramento, considering the Assembly and the Senate are in the hands of Democrats. The answer is "yes" because of the governor's power of appointments to dozens of boards. Somewhere between 1000 and 3000 important positions are filled by the governor, allowing him or her to influence our lives without the involvement of the extremely liberal legislature. Meg is fully aware of this and wants to get involved to make sure these posts are given to those who are more in tune with her philosophy, unlike Arnie, who let others make these decisions since he was ignorant of the workings of politics in Sacramento. So it could make a huge difference to have a more conservative person in office even with the radicals running around in Sacramento.

I need to read more about Meg’s opponents, Tom Campbell and Steve Poizner. But I was impressed yesterday with Meg Whitman. May be there is still hope for California.