A Schwarzeneggerian stab in the back

From the Wall Street Journal:

Arnold Schwarzenegger stunned California last week by selecting the former deputy chief of staff to Gray Davis, the Democratic governor ousted by the recall that brought Mr. Schwarzenegger to power, to be his own chief of staff.

Conservatives are furious that Susan Kennedy, a 45-year-old former acolyte of radical activists Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda, will be Gov. Schwarzenegger’s top administrator, with power to hire and fire staff. Some liberals are angry at her joining a GOP governor; others are bemused. This Wednesday, 450 Gray Davis alumni will fill the state capitol for the unveiling of Mr. Davis’s portrait. Ms. Kennedy will be reunited with David Zingale, another former top Davis aide, who is now chief of staff to First Lady Maria Shriver. Jason Kinney, a Davis speechwriter, quips that Mr. Schwarzenegger has decided to “finish the second term of Gray Davis.” Mr. Davis, for his part, notes that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

I tried to warn starry-eyed Republicans of this in a column during the post-recall election, but the Hewittian-led pragmatists won over the ironically more realistic idealists.

You can’t always get what you want. You won’t always get what you need. But you usually get what you deserve.