Some just love to dislike Newsom. Well, recall this: ‘I don’t think he’s a bad guy’

The reasons for the California recall run deeper than policy differences with Gov. Gavin Newsom, and go beyond simply GOP-Trumpy antipathy.

Outside of straight approval ratings on performance and policy, a rather significant undercurrent of Californians personally don’t like Newsom, period.

I’ve heard it. We’ve all heard it.

He’s too handsome. He’s too slick. He’s too calculating. Too something.

I get that.

I’ve only met Newsom twice. Quite frankly, I wanted to dislike him. My job as an editorial cartoonist would be astronomically easier.

You’d never hear people say, “oh, I hate Jerry Brown.” You’d hear a lot of, “well, he’s so smart.” Or “he’s a visionary.” Or “I disagree with him, but he’s brilliant.” A lot of that.

I really instinctively hate to hate, for a lot of reasons. Even if I’m a political cartoonist and columnist, I work hard not to hate anyone.

I’ve certainly come to hate a politician or two in my career. Guess who?

But Gavin Newsom isn’t one of them.

Newsom the person

In-person, and I say this constantly, Newsom is even more handsome and less glib than you might think. In another life with the same skill set, I honestly think he could have become the host of “The Tonight Show,” or a leading Hollywood actor.

I’ve met many politicians who have impressed me with their charm. The Rev. Jesse Jackson is very funny and warm in person. Former Vice President Al Gore is also extremely amusing, which he managed to conceal from voters for his entire career. Former Secretary of State and U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton is also terrific in person, contrary to her much-analyzed public persona.

Former President Bill Clinton struck me as somewhat phony the times I’ve met him. Former President Barack Obama, oddly, seemed somewhat ill-at-ease when I met him, although his physical presence, like Bill Clinton’s, is off the charts.

Now, I am not here to defend this or that policy of Newsom. I am here to tell you that I don’t think he’s a bad guy.

What Newsom suffers from, I think, is a public persona that was forged in a cringe-worthy Harper’s Bazaar photo shoot with his former wife in 2004.

The newly-minted San Francisco mayor thirtysomething politician was a comer, and he and his equally accomplished wife Kimberly Guilfoyle were already being touted as a future First Family in waiting.

He was a friend of the Getty family, and they helped set him up in various businesses. Newsom’s father was a judge, totally wired-in: Jerry Brown’s buddy, financial advisor to the Getty’s.

Then it all blew up.

Newsom confessed to an affair with his aide’s wife. That’s generally a bad look anywhere, and that was probably a major moment in the A Lot Of People Don’t Like Gavin Newsomland.

Of course, Guilfoyle is now a shoestring Trump, and Newsom is governor.

Gov. Remington Steele

A very perceptive piece in The New Yorker by Tad Friend suggested that Newsom, plagued by dyslexia and lonely as a child, plugged into the 1980s detective television show “Remington Steele” as a template/role model.

It figures. Frankly, Gavin Newsom would make a better Remington Steele than Pierce Brosnan and Brosnan later played James Bond in the movies.

The short version is that Newsom looks more privileged than he is. What he did was leverage what privilege he had. Wouldn’t any of us do that?

But I think there is a fundamental problem with Newsom, however, and this, sadly, has led to this GOP electoral scam.

Newsom plays things cute, as in, overly clever

He said he was going to move his family into the governor’s mansion. He did not. He bought a house in Fair Oaks.

He said that he was basically killing high-speed rail at the 2019 State of the State, then blamed “headline writers” for saying he did. Then he denied it.

I know. I wrote the headline. It was the only front-page headline I’ve ever written.

He told us to stay inside, wear our masks, and batten down the hatches. Most of us did.

Then he went to the French Laundry restaurant to celebrate poor Jason Kinney’s infamous birthday party.

His wife, Jennifer Seibel Newsom, has taken some serious money for her foundation. Again, it’s a bad look even if there’s no influencing going on. I’ll take them at their word.

However, these are the kind of things that make people not like you that much.

I can tell you that Newsom is incredibly likable in person. He’s a dead-on impressionist. He’s extremely funny. He’s the cool jock who wants to be the intellectual nerd. I think he’s trying to do the right thing. If he wants to be President of the United States, again, so what? That’s what California governors do.

But this cuteness, not his looks, and his trimming on facts have gotten him into all sorts of trouble.

Newsom being Newsom is not the only reason we are having a recall, but it’s one reason.

Along with about 70% of Californians, I think the recall is a complete waste of time, money, state resources, my attention, and energy. None of the other candidates has any claim on the job.

But Newsom is not doing much to help himself.

More Remington Steele. Less Jason Kinney.

This story was originally published August 1, 2021 at 5:00 AM.