As Arnold Schwarzenegger’s hopes to become California’s governor continue:Hollywood politics on the horizon [Archives:2003/672/Last Page]

By Yemen Times Staff
Many believe that Arnold Schwarzenegger, the internationally renowned Hollywood actor, will win enough votes to become the new California governor. Representing the Republican Party, the Terminator superstar is now geared up to become the first Republican actor to hold such a senior political position after former US president Ronald Reagan.
However, looking into the view of Arab Americans about the candidacy of Arnold, many have a negative view, mainly because of the negative portrayal of Arabs in a number of his films. One of those films was “True Lies”, which was starred by Arnold and produced by the 20th Century Fox Studios.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) had said that the “racist depictions of Arabs in movies lead to real consequences for Arab Americans, including employment discrimination, religious persecution, and hate crimes.”
Hence, not many Arab Americans are expected to vote for Arnold for two main reasons: the first because he represents the party of George W. Bush, which has lost almost all its support among the Arab community in the USA because of the recent war on Iraq and Afghanistan and is known to have stakes in Israeli companies such as Cell Guide Ltd. The second reason is because he has played major roles in Hollywood movies that depict Arabs in a negative way.
However, many Arabs also believe this is a healthy phenomenon because bringing an immigrant to become a governor in the USA demonstrates the freedom and liberty immigrants in the USA enjoy in political life. Furthermore, Arnold had pledged to help in legalizing the stance of millions of undocumented immigrants in California.
“I came to California 35 years ago because I saw this state as the best place on earth to fulfill my dreams. Immigrants contribute to the richness of life in California, and I embrace them More than 2.3 million undocumented immigrants currently live in California. They cannot continue to live underground. I will work with federal officials to address this problem.” Arnold said.
It is interesting how an immigrant from Austria who came 35 years ago with only $20 to find a better life is now getting closer to become the governor of the most heavily populated state in the USA.
It is also amazing to see how muscles brought fame and money, which in turn brought political achievements. It remains to be seen how the Hollywood star will do if he is elected on October 7th. After all, a professional and superb actor is not guaranteed to be a good politician, unless he is a person with multiple talents and broad vision.
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