Governor feeling weight of time

Ordinarily, a politician's body would not be noteworthy. But California is witnessing a singular moment: the deconstruction of one of the greatest bodies of all time.

At 15, Schwarzenegger began pounding, pressing and transforming himself into a symbol of physical perfection. Now, a few months from his 60th birthday, he has been photographed in a hospital bed, hobbling around on crutches and publicly lamenting his anger at being in constant pain.

Referring to himself last week as the "bionic man," he finds himself with an artificial hip, reconstructed heart valves, surgically repaired shoulder and a badly broken femur, an injury common among the elderly. And in perhaps an even bigger blow to his ego, photos from a vacation in Maui a few years ago showed him in a swimsuit with a sagging chest, robust stomach and ashen chest hair.

During a Christmas holiday at his 10,000-square-foot lodge in Idaho, Schwarzenegger slipped on skis and fractured a leg that already had an artificial hip. His doctor has said the governor's past steroid use had nothing to do with the slow-speed injury. Schwarzenegger himself blamed the hip and "torque" -- a bad angle meeting momentum.

Since then, the governor has walked onstage with crutches at his own inauguration and the Golden Globe awards and discussed his painkiller protocol on national TV with George Stephanopoulos. He has appeared tired and has cut back his schedule, forgoing a trip this week to the annual economic forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Unable to ride motorcycles in Malibu or continue a twice-daily workout routine, the governor has seemed depressed by his injury. Capitol aides are used to seeing him at a gym in Sacramento in a white T-shirt and Chinese slippers, working his biceps.

Wednesday in Sacramento, a hobbling and weary-looking Schwarzenegger encouraged a middle school assembly to remain physically active. The event for the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness was far more subdued than when he made former Gov. Pete Wilson do push-ups on the Capitol steps. He told a story about Jake Steinfeld -- the Body By Jake founder -- walking into World Gym in Santa Monica as a chubby teenager and transforming himself. That was three decades ago.

Over the last few weeks, Schwarzenegger has perhaps become more "accessible and endearing to people," said Marty Kaplan, director of the Normal Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication.