Arnold Schwarzenegger took the oath of office to become California's 38th governor yesterday. His acceptance speech was brief, humble, eloquent, optimistic and strong. Nice beginning.
I know there are some who say that the Legislature and I will never agree on solutions to our problems. But I've found in my life that people often respond in remarkable ways to remarkable challenges.Posted by Alan at November 18, 2003 05:37 PMIn the words of President Kennedy, "I am an idealist without illusions."
I know it will be hard to put aside years of partisan bitterness. I know it will be hard to overcome the political habits of the past.
But for guidance, let's look back in history to a period I studied when I became a citizen: the summer of 1787. Delegates of the original 13 states were meeting in Philadelphia. The dream of a new nation was falling apart. Divisions were deep. Merchant against farmer. Big states against small. North against South.
Our founding fathers knew that the fate of the union was in their hands, just as the fate of our California is in our hands. What happened in that summer of 1787 is that they put their differences aside and produced the blueprint for our government: our Constitution. Their coming together has been called "the miracle of Philadelphia."
Now, the members of the Legislature and I must bring about the "Miracle of Sacramento," a miracle based on cooperation, good will, new ideas and devotion to the long-term good of California.
What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those years of lifting and training hard. When I thought I couldn't lift another ounce of weight, what I learned is that we are always stronger than we know. And California is like that, too.
We are stronger than we know.
There's a massive weight we must lift off our state. Alone, I cannot lift it. But together, we can.
It's true, things may get harder before they get better. But I've never been afraid of the struggle. I've never been afraid of the fight, and I've never been afraid of the hard work.
I have big hopes for California. President Reagan spoke of America as "the shining city on the hill." I see California as "the Golden Dream by the Sea."
Perhaps some think that this is fanciful or poetic, but to an immigrant like me who, as a boy, saw Soviet tanks rolling through the streets of Austria, to someone like me who came here with absolutely nothing and gained absolutely everything, it is not fanciful to see California as the Golden Dream.
via the Contra Costa Times