COLUMNISTS

Newsom needs to tell his own story

Ruben Navarrette
Washington Post Writers Group

How fitting that California, home to Hollywood, would elect a governor who looks like he stepped out of central casting.

I’m sure my female friends in the Golden State won’t mind seeing a lot of Gavin Newsom over the next four years. The 51-year-old lieutenant governor, and former San Francisco mayor, stands 6’3” with a handsome face and a thick crop of hair that, oddly enough, always seems both in-place and naturally ruffled. He also has a beautiful wife and adorable kids.

If you haven’t seen him yet, you’ll get your chance. You could always stake out Iowa and New Hampshire. The Democrat will surely be visiting there soon enough, campaigning for other candidates in 2020 – and, you can bet, for himself four years later in 2024.

And yet, voter beware. In the land of make believe, things are rarely as they seem. More often, we see what we want to see.

That’s doubly true in politics, where the game has become about taking the support you already have and turning yourself inside out to get additional votes wherever you can find them. You need to be flexible. Conservative politicians may find themselves having to be more liberal, while liberal politicians might decide they need to be more conservative.

You also need to be comfortable lying to your constituents. The 2018 midterm elections were significant not because of what candidates said but because of what they refused to say. Many Democrats were reluctant to talk about immigration, and many Republicans were just as resistant to talk about health care. No matter whom you voted for, you’re bound to be surprised at how they vote down the line.

As a native Californian who moved back home 13 years ago, I’ve watched Newsom for a while. I still don’t know who he is, or what he stands for. I’m not sure he does either. Every politician needs to be able to tell at least one story – his or her own.

Newsom doesn’t do that very well. Although he had previously mentioned it, it wasn’t until recently that I learned that the new governor-elect had dyslexia. The term refers to a difference in how the brain functions that can make it difficult to process information in written form. In October of last year, during Dyslexia Awareness Month, Newsom wrote a short essay explaining how his experience gave him empathy for those who struggle.

As someone whose wife is a dyslexia specialist, that part of Newsom’s personal resume made him more interesting to me. So why did I not hear about it again until around the time of the gubernatorial election a year later?

Newsom plays it close to the vest on most issues. He can discuss just about any topic you throw at him, but he tends to leave himself out of the discussion – perhaps out of an abundance of caution. He wanders through public life - successfully - like someone who doesn’t want to anger a single voter. That can be a roadmap for winning elections, but it’s not a good recipe for leading people.

As the most populous state, and the world’s fifth-largest economy, California is in dire need of leadership. Wildfires. Drought. Mediocre public schools run aground by self-serving teachers’ unions. Mounting health care costs. Businesses leaving. Soaring cost of living. People who hire illegal immigrants with an open hand, and chase them off with a clenched fist.

And, as he tries to tackle some of that – hopefully - Newsom has at least three struggles of his own. He needs to reach out beyond his liberal base to moderates, independents and even Republicans so he isn’t simply a Democratic governor trapped within the bubble of a deep-blue state. He needs to differentiate himself from his Democratic predecessor, Jerry Brown, and carve out his own style and agenda - which won’t be easy because Brown could be both liberal and conservative on the same issue. And he needs to avoid the trap that has ensnared other Democratic governors here - most notably, Gray Davis, who was elected in 1998 and recalled five years later - where he focuses so much on aspiring to be president that he avoids controversy and loses sight of the job at hand.

Newsom has said that growing up with dyslexia taught him to overcome obstacles. That’s good. Because, in the Golden State, the road ahead is filled with them.

Email Ruben Navarrette at ruben@rubennavarrette.com.