Governor promises a `post-partisan' era

Schwarzenegger, in his first public appearance since breaking his leg while skiing two weeks ago, entered the stage at the imposing Memorial Auditorium from the rear, walking with a pair of metal crutches that he handed to his wife, Maria Shriver.

Placing his left hand on a family Bible, he raised his right as he took the oath of office, stumbling a bit on the final phrase, "the duties upon which I'm about to enter." Shriver clutched his arm to provide support throughout.

The governor then took the crutches from her, walked carefully to the podium and delivered the 15-minute speech that opened his new and final term.

Looking thinner since having surgery Dec. 26 to repair his right thigh bone, Schwarzenegger gave his strongest and clearest statement to date that he is displeased with the direction of his own party. He said he wants to chart a third way that combines elements of both Democratic and Republican ideologies.

"I believe that we have the opportunity to move past partisanship, past bipartisanship to post-partisanship," the governor said before about 3,000 invited guests. "Post-partisanship is not simply Republicans and Democrats each bringing their proposals to the table and working out differences. Post-partisanship is Republicans and Democrats actively giving birth to new ideas together.

"I believe it would promote a new centrism and a new trust in our political system," he said. "And I believe we have a window to do it right now."

The address was written by a former Ronald Reagan speechwriter, Landon Parvin. But there appeared to be more Kennedy touches than Reaganisms.

With his mother-in-law, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, watching from the stage with the governor's wife and children, he said at one point: "We all breathe the same air." President Kennedy used that phrase in a speech at American University in 1963.

In the address, Schwarzenegger focused on overarching themes and messages. A more detailed policy agenda will emerge in a trio of speeches he is to deliver next week, covering healthcare, the budget and his overall assessment of the state's condition.