Hasta La Vista, Governator

As the good state of California bids (a fond?) farewell to the Governator, it is worth considering for a moment just what the gubernatorial career of the star of Kindergarten Cop means for modern politics. On one level, Arnie’s election, and tenure, in office seems to be a good example of the very worst of our celebrity obsessed culture. After all, does anyone really think that Arnie would have become governor had he not already been a celebrity? And does being a bodybuilder turned often rather wooden actor really qualify someone to be a leader for millions of people?

Yet, on balance, the man who decided it would be a good career move to make Junior actually turned out to be a pretty good choice for Governor. Sure, he didn't always treat his fellow politicians with absolute respect, and he often took a different path from the party in which he is nominally a member. Yet he was far more successful than his immediate predecessor, and managed – against the odds, and certainly against the weight of expectations – to become a credible politician in his own right. There can be little doubt that, if his nationality did not preclude it, that we would be looking forward to a presidential campaign from Arnie in 2012.

And that’s the way in which Arnie is such a good example of celebrities in politics; he simultaneously shows that celebrity can help you achieve high office, but that if you take that office seriously and surround yourself with decent advisors, that celebrity status should not predispose you to failure if you manage to win an election. Celebrities can be just as credible as politicians as those who dedicate their whole lives to the pursuit of political office.

So in a sense, I’m saying I don’t mind – or at least don’t automatically reject – celebrities aspiring to or entering high office. That said, it will be the death of our political system in this country if we ever elected a moron like David Beckham - taking a gamble on a celebrity is one thing; electing one who is clearly a massive tool would be quite another...

*Honestly, titles like that write themselves - particularly when I get to half-steal them from the BBC...