From 60 Minutes Dec. 21, 2008. Arnold Schwarzenegger expresses his desire to run for President if the Constitution is ever changed to allow it. Given the current list of contenders I'd say the rest of them would never like to see that happen any time soon.
"Well, you're a man of no small ambition. If the Constitution was changed, you'd like to be president, wouldn't you?" Pelley asked.
"Yeah, absolutely," Schwarzenegger acknowledged. "I think that I am always a person that looks for the next big goal. And I love challenges. I always set goals that are so high, that are almost impossible to achieve. Because then, you're always hungry for climbing and climbing. Because it's always interesting. The climb is always interesting. When you get there you just have to pick another goal."
Full transcript:
But now "home" is in trouble. California is the foreclosure capital, and unemployment is above eight percent. The governor proposed to close that budget deficit half with tax increases and half with budget cuts. Republicans and Democrats opposed him.
When 60 Minutes sat down with Schwarzenegger at the Capitol, he had just left the legislative leadership and he seemed in no mood. Before they got settled, Pelley was worried that the last thing the governor wanted to do was talk to him.
"I'm not sure that meeting went all that well. You seem pretty preoccupied. You got the 'Terminator look' on your face," Pelley remarked.
"It doesn't work on me. No psyching out," Schwarzenegger said, laughing "It doesn't work."
"No, I was just being honest," Pelley said. When the interview got going, Pelley asked about that morning's editorial in that most Republican of opinion pages, the Wall Street Journal.
Schwarzenegger had seen it.
"Savage. Savage. They said you were taxing and spending this beautiful state to ruin, to use their words. What do you think when you read that?" Pelley asked.
"I think this is part of the job, that you have people way on the left that will attack you for making cuts. You will have people way on the right that will attack you for your spending," the governor replied.
"If you read between the lines in the Wall Street Journal editorial, it's essentially asking, 'What kind of Republican are you?'" Pelley remarked.
"For me, the most important thing is, when I make a decision, is what is best for the people of California, and what is best for our economy, and what's best for the state, not what is best for my party. I'm not a party servant. I'm a public servant," Schwarzenegger said.
Schwarzenegger likes to call his way "post-partisan," and he just campaigned successfully through a controversial reform that makes traditionally Democratic or Republican legislative seats more competitive at election time.
But his approval rating has dropped from 60 percent two years ago to 40 percent now. Still, that's better than the legislature gets - 21 percent.
Running California means running the eighth largest economy in the world and with two years left as governor, Schwarzenegger will soon have to find an encore. Being born in Austria would seem to disqualify him from the next political step.
"Well, you're a man of no small ambition. If the Constitution was changed, you'd like to be president, wouldn't you?" Pelley asked.
"Yeah, absolutely," Schwarzenegger acknowledged. "I think that I am always a person that looks for the next big goal. And I love challenges. I always set goals that are so high, that are almost impossible to achieve. Because then, you're always hungry for climbing and climbing. Because it's always interesting. The climb is always interesting. When you get there you just have to pick another goal."
He's already won over the president-elect to his environmental goals. At Schwarzenegger's environmental conference, Mr. Obama sent a video message endorsing the California plan and said under this administration, the US would adopt similar greenhouse gas reduction goals.
But now Schwarzenegger still has to head off that budget disaster - to find middle ground that no one else can see - and keep up the appearance that the climb is a joy. "People think show business was in Hollywood but I think Reagan was absolutely right, if he wouldn't have the training in acting this would have been a very difficult job and I think that's what it is, that's reality," Schwarzenegger said.
