The Frame Around Arnold

By George Lakoff, AlterNet. Posted October 13, 2003.

Newspaper and TV reporters require a story. Each story requires a frame. How was the election of Arnold Schwartzenegger framed? Here is a selection:

Voter Revolt: Gray Davis was such a bad governor that the voters justifiably ousted him and voted in the representative of the other party.

The Great Noncommunicator: Gray Davis governed as well as possible under the circumstances, but was so bad at communicating with the electorate that he could not communicate his real accomplishments, nor could he communicate the role of the Republicans in the state's problems. The public thought Davis was worse than he was and wanted a communicator, so they voted him out and chose an actor.

Those Kooky Californians: People in California are so weird that they voted a politically inexperienced bodybuilder-actor into office to replace a governor they voted for just last year.

The People Beat the Politicians: When the people win, politics as usual must lose (Schwarzenegger's acceptance speech).

Just a Celebrity: People don't understand politics and just voted for a celebrity.

Up By his Bootstraps: Coming here as an immigrant, Arnie worked and worked to become a champion body-builder, then a millionaire actor, and finally achieved his dream – becoming governor.

Framing was rampant in reporting in this election. Frames come with inferences, so each framing implies something different.

The "Voter Revolt" frame legitimizes the recall. It assumes that Davis was incompetent or corrupt, that the voters correctly perceived this, that it outraged them, that they spontaneously, righteously, and overwhelmingly rose up and ousted him, replacing him with someone they knew to be more competent. Democracy was served and all is well. We should be happy about the result and things will be better.

The "Great Noncommunicator" frame implies that the one and only problem was Gray Davis' inability to communicate. It assumes he was a competent governor and a responsible administrator with that single fatal flaw, that people want communication so badly that they recalled Davis because he couldn't communicate his achievements. The implication is that the recall and Schwartzenegger's election had nothing to do with anything outside California or anything broader, and that the problem just was Davis.

The "Kooky Californians" frame says the recall was irrational, that Californians can't tell the movies from reality, that a move action hero can't govern a great state in trouble, that Arnie is a political incompetent and that chaos will ensue.

The "People Beat the Politicians" frame is Schwartzenegger's attempt to impose his own frame. The context is that Arnold will have to deal with a majority Democratic legislature. This frame casts himself and the Republican politicians as "the people" and the Democrats as "politics as usual," which "the people" voted against.

The "Just a Celebrity frame" implies that there was no partisan politics in this election and that any celebrity at all could just as well have won.

The "Up by his Bootstraps" frame attributes Arnold's election principally to Arnold himself, especially to his hard work and ambition. Arnold got to be governor because he deserved it. He deserved it because he worked hard – at body-building, acting, and campaigning.

If there's going to be a news story, there's going to be a frame and each frame will have different inferences.

Facts and Framing

It is a general finding about frames that if a strongly held frame doesn't fit the facts, the facts will be ignored and the frame will be kept. The frames listed above don't do very well at fitting the facts – though each has a grain of truth. Let's look at the facts that each frame hides.

Voter Revolt: This frame hides the national Republican effort over several years to make Davis look bad by hurting the California economy. It hides the fact that energy deregulation was brought in by Republican governor Pete Wilson. It ignores the fact that there was no real "energy crisis." It resulted from thievery by Enron and other heavy Bush contributors, thievery that was protected by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission run by Bush appointees. The Bush administration looked the other way while California was being bilked and went to great lengths not to help California financially in any of the many ways the federal government can help. Arnold had had a meeting with Ken Lay and other energy executives in spring 2001 when Lay was promoting deregulation, but denies any complicity in the theft. Arnold is now promoting energy deregulation again.

It also ignores the fact that California's Republican legislature also went out of its way to make Davis look bad, refusing to support reasonable measures for dealing with the budget problems. It ignores the fact that the recall petition was paid for by a wealthy conservative legislator and that signature gatherers were paid handsomely and that some signatures were from out of state, which is illegal. And it ignores the enormous amount of money and organization put into the Schwartzenegger campaign by Republicans. This was no simple popular revolution. Most of all, the "Voter Revolt" frame does not explain why Schwartzenegger should have been the candidate chosen.

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »