Arnold Schwarzenegger, the man best known for uttering the cinematic line “I’ll be back,” is running for governor. But will Jews help send the Austrian-born former bodybuilder back — to Hollywood — or ahead to Sacramento?
The heavily unpopular incumbent, Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, drew 69 percent of the Jewish vote in last November’s election. The vast majority of California Jews are Democrats, and many are sickened by the recall process.
“The recall election is a circus and Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to hold up the tent,” says Saul Turteltaub, a veteran Los Angeles-area television sitcom writer and producer.
Turteltaub knows Schwarzenegger socially and thinks he is a nice guy and sincere person, but that doesn’t mean he’ll vote for the movie action hero for governor of California.
“First, I’m a Democrat, and secondly, I think that the recall election is a bad idea,” he says.
Even among Democrats, however, Davis is wildly unpopular these days. It is no given that his loyal Jewish Democratic following will solidify behind him.
That’s not to say disaffected Jewish Democrats will run straight for Schwarzenegger, however. Two aspects of the actor’s past may give Jews pause. One is the fact that the father of the actor and former Mr. Universe was a member of the Nazi Party and served in the German army during World War II.
The second is the somewhat murky relationship of “The Terminator” with Kurt Waldheim, the former U.N. secretary-general and Austrian president.
Deborah England, president of the Northern California branch of the Republican Jewish Commission, wasn’t swayed by the senior Schwarzenegger’s misdeeds.
“Are people troubled that Ted Kennedy, JFK and Bobby Kennedy had a father who was probably one of the most prominent Hitler supporters in his day? If you visit the sins of the father upon his sons, you have to be consistent,” she said.
England added that Schwarzenegger has visited Israel and was open about his business investments within the Jewish state.
The actor’s relationship with Waldheim, who was barred from entering the United States because of his World War II record as a Nazi intelligence officer in the occupied Balkans, has been the subject of some media scrutiny of late.
It seems clear that Schwarzenegger toasted the then-Austrian president, in absentia, when the actor married Maria Shriver in 1986, and he was photographed with Waldheim as recently as 1998. Schwarzenegger has repeatedly ducked opportunities to repudiate Waldheim’s Nazi past.
That, however, is old news to William J. Lowenberg, a staunch Republican and a prominent San Francisco Jewish leader and philanthropist.
“Waldheim is gone. No one talks about him anymore. Forget all the other mishugas that’s not important anymore. When it comes to the Jewish community, I’ve been assured by the Simon Wiesenthal Center that he’s 100 percent,” Lowenberg said.
“The Jewish community of Los Angeles knows [Schwarzenegger]. The Wiesenthal Center knows him well. He’s the largest contributor from the [entertainment] industry, and this is an industry that has a majority of Jews in it.”
Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, notes that Schwarzenegger has donated between $750,000 to $1 million of his own money since the 1980s, and he has raised millions more from others in parlor meetings. It was Schwarzenegger who asked the Wiesenthal Center to investigate his father’s Nazi ties, said Hier.
In 1997, Schwarzenegger was presented with the Wiesenthal Center’s National Leadership Award.
Other California Jews are less than eager to elect “Conan the Republican” governor, validating the recall in the process.
Natalie Berg, former head of San Francisco’s Democratic Party and a current executive board member on the state level, said Schwarzenegger’s popularity in the Jewish community will relay on how he is portrayed in the media.
“It will depend on whether or not his father being a Nazi and his friendship with Kurt Waldheim gets any play in the Jewish community. Most Jews are unaware. If they become aware, it may give them some pause in voting for him,” she predicted.
“Barring that, I believe the Jewish population will reflect the general population, which is saying, at the moment, that Schwarzenegger has star quality and people think it’s a kick to vote for a star.”
Berg believed that young Jews — who may have no idea who Waldheim is, let alone what Schwarzenegger’s relationship to him is — are more likely to vote for the film star.
Meanwhile, a supremely cynical view of the whole proceedings is taken by cultural critic Neal Gabler, author of “An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood.”
Gabler sees in the recall election a validation of his thesis that politics in America has become a branch of he entertainment industry, in which life imitates art.
“What California voters are doing is to consciously convert the political process into a movie,” Gabler says. “Arnold understands that the election has nothing to do with politics and everything with entertainment values.”
The outcome of the election, the New York-based writer believes, hinges on what approach the media decides to take.
“If the media reports this as a serious political issue, I don’t think Arnold will win,” Gabler says. “But if they treat this as just fun and games, then he’s in.”