Waking up for the recall on Tuesday was like Christmas morning. I knew exactly when it was going to come, but was it really finally here? I had shaken the presents, I had read the polls, I was ready. I knew when I opened the special box that it was going to have Ken Griffey, Jr.’s Major League Baseball and I knew when I opened the Drudge Report Web site, it was going to be Arnold Schwarzenegger that won the recall election.

Or was it? Maybe it would be like the time my mom wrapped two books in a decoy video game sized package, and something terrible would happen, leaving Gray Davis to continue his reign of ineptitude over California.

But the cover of the Washington Post said it all: “Schwarzenegger Wins,” with Maria Shriver (CAS ’77) standing by her husband’s side. To the euphoric delight of the nation’s conservatives and the horrible chagrin of liberals everywhere, a “red flag” will once again fly over the California governor’s mansion as of November.

This is much more than a mere political victory – it is a huge burden lifted off of the shoulders of the good people of the Golden State. A full 55 percent of those who voted were indeed “mad as hell” and could not take Gray Davis any longer. Just over 7.5 million people chose a replacement candidate and Arnold earned 48.5 percent of those votes, or just under 3.7 million.

In the 2002 election, outgoing Governor Gray Davis managed only 47.3 percent of the votes cast, or 3.1 million. Voter turnout for that election was lower, but Arnold received both a higher percentage and number of Californian’s ballots than Davis did. This fact disproves the first of the many false outcries about the recall from the left.

“The Republicans stole the election” – Arnold received more votes than Davis and won by a margin 1 million votes larger – with another Republican in the race! Additionally, exit polls found that 76 percent of recall voters were dissatisfied with Davis’ performance. If that’s not a clear mandate by the people of California, I don’t know what is.

“Arnold doesn’t have any experience” – No experience compared to Gray Davis? Fine, Arnold doesn’t have any experience mishandling an energy crisis, turning a $12 billion dollar state surplus into a $38 billion dollar deficit in less than 5 years, or raising campaign contributions by selling out his state’s government. But don’t worry, Cruz Bustamante is still the lieutenant governor; he has plenty of experience with illegal campaign contributions from unions and American Indian tribes.

“Gray Davis was elected fairly just last November” – Gray Davis was unelected fairly just last Tuesday. Whether recalls are justified or not wasn’t the question on the ballot -California’s constitution says they are. The state’s system of initiatives and propositions give its citizens an almost Athenian-style democracy, and the recall is just another way the people took advantage of their 21st century forum.

“Arnold will turn the state into a joke” – In case the people making this argument haven’t seen Letterman or Conan in the last two or three years, California already was a joke. Gray Davis is responsible for turning the state into that joke and Arnold has a great opportunity to turn that around. Besides, Arnold came to America with “empty pockets but big hopes and dreams” and turned himself into a multi-millionaire movie star who ran a successful campaign to become governor. The last time I checked, that was suspiciously like realizing the American Dream. If that’s the joke, I don’t get it.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s brilliant handling of the campaign proves he isn’t just some dumbbell; he has a mandate, a policy and a clear commitment to being a man of the people. And most importantly, he will bring desperately needed strong leadership back to California.

Both parties are going to continue their squabbling and only the strong leadership Arnold can provide will get the state back on track. Californians realized this and gave Arnold a chance to prove himself to the state and the nation – more power to them. The Hollywood knee-jerks might not like living under Arnold, but hey – weren’t they all going to move to France or Canada if Bush was elected, anyway?

Eric Rodawig is a freshman in the College and is the assistant Viewpoint editor of THE HOYA.