Arnold: Give Obama a Break!
Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose last term as California governor runs out at the end of the year, had some words of support for President Obama from across the aisle.
On "The Early Show" Thursday, Schwarzenegger said, "I think that the bottom line is this is a very difficult job today to a leader, because of the world economy being down. No matter where you pick up news papers ... it's all the same headlines - that it's a disaster, the economy is down, money is not available, the banking system is a problem. People are losing jobs and people are hating the politicians."
In an interview with co-anchor Harry Smith, Schwarzenegger continued, "Remember, with health care reform, Teddy Roosevelt talked about health reform in 1912. So, that's 100 years ago. And since then, no one was able to do it, and now (Mr.) Obama is another president giving it a stab and trying to get it done. It could work. I mean, you have to give him credit for taking the risk. You have to give any leader credit for always going out on a limb and to go and fight for something. It may not work out, but in the end, you have to try."
Asked whether there's still room for moderates in a GOP that seems to be increasingly right-leaning Schwarzenegger aluded to the Democratic cry that his is "The Party of No." He replied, "I think that there are great leaders in the Republican Party and I think that the key thing is to always, when you're the minority party, that you have good solutions, so the people can see what the majority party has to offer and what then the minority party has to offer. So to me, the most important thing is you always have great solutions, not just say no, but have great solutions and have a whole menu of things of what you would do if you were in power."