SPEAKING OF POST COLUMNISTS... David Broder continues his "political independence" jihad today, this time with a column celebrating Arnold Schwarzenegger's political transformation from righty to moderate deal-maker, which "demonstrat[ed] in the most dramatic way possible the value of political independence." But now I'm really confused. As Broder's own recounting shows, Arnold's shift was borne of dire political necessity -- his efforts to govern and legislate as a right-winger were completely rejected by the California electorate, and so in response he's shifted gears and tried to mend fences with the Democrats who have real power in the state. There's plenty of ways to spin this as a positive thing (democracy in action, responsiveness to the voters, etc.), but chalking it up to "independence" seems almost perversely inapt. (I now see that Susie Madrak already put this more pithily.)
--Sam Rosenfeld
