The Graying Of Arnold.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)

Leadership: Will California's governor follow in the footsteps of his hapless predecessor? That's where he's headed if he keeps backing away from hard fights.

It may be too early to declare that the wheels have fallen off Arnold Schwarzenegger's bandwagon, but the signs aren't good.

Schwarzenegger looked like a shrewd risk-taker when he roared into office. Now he seems to be avoiding risk wherever he can. He's backing away from political battles, putting reform plans on hold and giving his foes more time to turn the public against him.

In 2003, California government was going through its worst budget crisis in generations, and voters had written off then-Gov. Gray Davis as a lap dog of special interests, especially public-employee unions. Schwarzenegger was the man for the moment. As a political outsider with charm, optimism and a tendency to say whatever was on his mind, he was Davis' opposite in every important way.

He also promised change -- real, blow-up-the-boxes reform.

During decades of Democratic Party leadership, the Legislature had more or less handed control of the public sector, including schools, to the unions. Outrageous pension benefits were pointing state and local governments toward disaster. (One city, San Diego, got there early, and its mayor has been forced to resign as a result.)

In the schools, California had the nation's highest-paid teachers in spite of subpar test scores. Prison guards had political clout somewhat like the power they legally wielded over inmates.