Arnold Schwarzenegger - Total Recall - My Unbelievably True Life Story

The farmers were demonstrating with signs that said “Turn On the Pumps” and showed me their dusty fields. They were saying things to the media like, “I’ll be damned if I’ll let a little fish take all my water away. We will fight the government to the end.”

I told them that we were negotiating with Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “Those things take time and patience,” I said.

A farmer stood up and asked, “How can you say that? Why can’t you go there and turn the valve? You go there and turn it on.”

I realized people had the vision that I’d push aside the federal judge, push aside whoever was guarding the pumping station, go up to this huge chained valve, break the chain, and turn the wheel, releasing a torrent of water into the land, turning it a lush green and returning the farmers to work. But I couldn’t do that in real life! That’s the problem of presenting yourself as the Governator. You can do miracles but not the kind that require wearing a cape and being able to fly. Instead, it took months of pushing and cajoling the Department of the Interior and some dedicated negotiations with the Obama administration to get the water turned on.

As governor, you’re neither a solitary champion nor a star. You have to work with the legislature, the courts, the bureaucracy, and the federal government, not to mention with the voters themselves.

Politics can be a lot like crowd surfing in a mosh pit. All these hands reach out and carry you along, and sometimes you end up where you want to go, and sometimes you don’t. But compared to making a movie, when you do accomplish something in government, the satisfaction is so much larger and long lasting. In a movie, you are entertaining people for a few hours in a dark theater. In government, you are affecting entire lives; generations, even.

It was always the most extraordinary feeling when we would reach an agreement, and some measure would pass the legislature or win ballot approval. I would pull out a cigar and light it up, pull out my list of things I wanted to accomplish, and take a pen and mark that item off. Although I certainly wish I had been able to cross more items off the list, I feel good about what we did get done.

Even Maria agreed that the challenge had been worth it. Speaking at a wellness conference in 2010, she said, “I’d like to admit today that I was wrong to try to talk Arnold out of running for governor seven years ago, and he was right not to listen to me. The fact is, I didn’t want Arnold to run because I myself didn’t like growing up in a political family. I was afraid something bad would happen. I was afraid of the unknown. It turns out Arnold was right to follow his dream and run. He’s loved this governor’s job more than anything he’s ever done in his life. It ended up being a perfect match for his intellect, his love of people, his passion for public policy, and his competitive streak. I’ve never seen him happier or more fulfilled. Even with all the ups and downs of the last seven years, he says if he had to do it over again, he would in a heartbeat, and I believe him. I never thought I’d say this, but I thank him for not listening to me.”

I was luckier than I deserved to have such a wife.