Schwarzenegger syndrome - Gary Indiana

From the California recall circus, in which Gary Coleman, Larry Flynt, and Arianna Huffington vied with over 100 other candidates to replace a supposedly inept governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger emerged triumphant. How did this onetime bodybuilding champion and gay pin-up, with no political experience and a string of mediocre action movies to his name, come to take over the world's fifth-largest economy? In The Schwarzenegger Syndrome, celebrated journalist and novelist Gary Indiana makes the case that this tale is a product of a media-soaked culture, in which image matters more than substance. The recall process, a parody of direct democracy, gave Schwarzenegger the chance of a lifetime. With so many candidates in the race, he certainly wasn't the most qualified, the most articulate, or the most credible - but he was the most famous. And for the majority of Californians, that was enough. A witty and biting travelogue through the culture of celebrity where it intersects with American political life, The Schwarzenegger Syndrome lays bare the dark implications of Schwarzenegger's rise to power in the Golden State.