The Daily Bruin sat down with “The Wizards of
Westwood” ““ UCLA student Marshall Miller and alumnus
Joshua Mikael ““ to discuss Operation Arnold, their bipartisan
effort to pass a constitutional amendment which would allow Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger to run for president in 2008.
OperationArnold.com, which was released last Thursday, includes a
petition and sells official Schwarzenegger paraphernalia. ***
Daily Bruin: How did you come up with the idea for
OperationArnold.com?
Joshua Mikael: We were sitting in Coffee Bean in Santa Monica,
and we were talking about the state of the nation and the things
that are important to us. We got on the topic of who in America is
the best representation of the American dream ““ that’s
something that we think is as important as any other part of your
track record ““ and the answer was obvious. Marshall Miller:
We’re also a little disappointed, as far as the political
candidates representing the Republican and Democratic parties in
this election.
DB: What steps did you take to launch the
organization?
JM: We had to make it a legal entity for one, and then we had to
basically just do some research. I built the Web site in its
entirety, and Marshall (Miller) contributed most of the content,
like articles and other ideas for site content. We wore some new
hats in doing this, for sure! MM: We have an online petition. I
came up with the idea and Joshua linked up the petition to the
site, and we’ve had unbelievable amounts of signatures on
that in the last 48 hours. Two-hundred-something in the last 48
hours, and it’s rapidly growing. We started basically running
side by side with Sen. Orrin Hatch’s (R-Utah) amendment
that’s on the floor right now. We’re putting the
exclamation point on his argument. He’s going out, trying to
convince both houses of Congress ““ Rep. Dana Rohrabacher
(R-Calif.) is on one side, and Rep. Orrin Hatch on the other side
““ and we’re basically the operation that’s
gathering up the citizenry and rallying the troops to let them know
there is support for this legislature that’s being
passed.
DB: What sort of response have you had from
Schwarzenegger?
JM: We haven’t contacted him, so we haven’t heard
anything from his administration. We didn’t contact him for a
very simple reason: We wanted the world to know ““ and we
wanted him to know ““ that there are people who are going to
get behind him on their own volition. MM: Let the record show that
his spokesman for his campaign, Join Arnold, knows that we exist
and says that the governor ““ this was quoted in the Oakland
Tribune ““ does not know we exist. But I assume by now he told
him that we exist. We’re looking forward to getting into
contact with him within the next week or so.
DB: Has the response you’ve received been more
supportive toward Arnold or toward changing the
Constitution?
MM: With our site, I’ve got to admit that people are
passionate for Arnold, but I think the people who are signing the
petition have obviously shown that they think this regulation is
not right. I mean, 20 years should be long enough for us to
evaluate someone, and if someone’s intelligent enough of a
candidate that they can rally support from native-born citizens
““ which is a difficult task in itself ““ they should
definitely have the right to run.
DB: As a Democrat, how do you feel about giving so much
support to a Republican?
JM: To me, the thing that’s most important when the dust
settles is the person that I’m going to be following. I want
somebody who inspires me, and I want somebody in office ““ in
the driver’s seat ““ who I know is up for the challenge.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is someone who has met with difficulty after
difficulty through personal tragedy in his life. He’s met
roadblocks with language barrier, financial barrier ““ he came
out here with no money ““ and everything he’s done,
he’s done it very successfully. If anyone can beat the odds
time and time again, like he has, I have complete confidence that
he’s the best man for the job.