California Insider

A Weblog by
Sacramento Bee Columnist Daniel Weintraub

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July 27, 2003

Take a deep breath, folks

Maureen Dowd has weighed in on the recall, dismissing it, of course, as the work of California kooks. That’s almost comforting, as I would have been worried had she endorsed it. The one useful item in the piece is a quote from a Davis aide describing the recall as unlocking "all the cages in the zoo." This is the perfect metaphor with which to capture the governor's attitude toward voters. Former congressman and onetime Clinton chief of staff Leon Panetta chimes in with his own more sophisticated but essentially parallel take: the recall is democracy run amok.

Calm down, people. You would think folks were killing each other in the streets here, or burning down the Capitol. We are talking about holding an election, OK? The petitions represent a massive vote of no confidence in the governor's ability to lead. Now, in a few weeks, all of the people will have their say on that question. Britain has been doing something similar for hundreds of years now and seems to have managed to survive.

A year ago the state’s editorial boards were all but unanimous in their condemnation of the choice offered Californians. Some recommended Davis, some Simon, but almost all conceded that their choice was the lesser of evils. Now we get another bite at the apple. Is that so bad?

You can also expect a flood of criticism and mockery from the pundit booth about the growing list of candidates. As if this, too, were some sort of terrible development. Are all the candidates serious? No. But many of them will be, and the numbers are in part a reflection of the intense interest in this election. We don’t know what the turnout will be. But we do know that right now, people on the street are paying attention to California politics. They’re expressing opinions and getting involved. They are taking ownership, because they, and not the governing class, called this election. This is not bad news. Unless, of course, you are among those who have a stake in the people tuning out instead of turning out, in not caring, in not following the pea under the shell.

Here is the Dowd column, and here is Panetta. Both require registration, but use mine: californiainsider/insider