'Fantastic' -Chapter Excerpt

FANTASTIC: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger
by Laurence Leamer

Chapter One

"The American Dream":

As California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stood at the podium of the Republican National Convention in August 2004, scanning the vast assemblage, everything was fantastic. Arnold's favorite word was fantastic. Of course, his wife, Maria Shriver, was "fantastic," but so was working with his predecessor and archrival, former Governor Gray Davis, during the transition. Now that Arnold was in office, every Californian would have a "fantastic job." When a judge ruled that he had violated campaign laws and would have to repay $4.5 million out of his own pocket, that was "fantastic," too.

Arnold was washed in waves of applause that began directly in front of him in the Ohio delegation. They knew him as the greatest bodybuilding champion in history, who had come to Columbus each spring since his retirement to put on a bodybuilding and sports competition. Behind the Midwesterners stood his own California delegation, many wearing T-shirts reading I'M WITH ARNOLD. Beyond them were other delegations that considered him the most exciting new political figure in their party. And back up in the upper reaches of Madison Square Garden were many to whom he was primarily a movie star celebrated almost everywhere.

Arnold looked out beatifically on the huge hall. This was his first public test as a national political figure and the most important speech of his life. He had been given a key slot, Tuesday evening at ten o'clock, the first speaker on prime-time network television. He had been governor, of California for nine and a half months, elected in a controversial recall election. As far as he was concerned, he had done a fantastic job. He was wildly popular and had made Californians feel good about their state once again. It was all about competition, and standing there was like moving up from the California title to the national championship or the Olympics. He was shining. Everyone was looking at him. Everyone was wondering, could he hack it? Could he make it on the great stage?

Arnold's enormous head on the great television screens in the Garden looked like a giant icon. His head was so large that it was a visual signature that could be seen from afar. His hair, already turning gray a quarter-century ago, was dyed the most peculiar shade of brown. The six-foot, two-inch-tall politician had orange-brown skin, a color that was also a shade unknown to nature. He had a tucked face that was the work of either a master plastic surgeon or a generous God who had decided to bestow eternal youth on one mortal. However bizarre these elements might have seemed individually, they came together in an immensely powerful image.

Fifty-seven-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger was a man of the most extraordinary public discipline. The look of youthful exuberance and energy was, in part, an act of pure will. He had a slow, purposeful walk. He almost never hurried. He held his stomach in tight to promote the lean look of youth. His discipline set him apart—surely from most men his own age, many of whom were already counting the days to retirement.

From the book FANTASTIC: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger by Laurence Leamer. Copyright © 2005 by the author. Reprinted with permission from St. Martin's Press, LLC and available wherever books are sold.