RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR.: Newsom discovered diversity — and used it to keep the governor’s office

The California recall election — which is now mercifully consigned to the history books — deserves an autopsy that is fair, honest and nuanced. Especially since the election itself was none of those things.

On the question of whether Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom should be removed from office, 64 percent of Californians voted “no.” Only 36 percent voted “yes.”

The recall election was messy, negative and partisan to an alarming degree. At times, it was also absurd.

While we might have predicted that leading Republican challenger Larry Elder would cry foul and — like a whiny former president to which he was often compared — claim that the election was rigged, who could have known that these claims would come a day ahead of the election, before a single vote was counted.

Then came Newsom. The Progressive Prince of Privilege — who only when faced with a recall got introduced to demographic chunks of a state he supposedly leads — outmaneuvered Elder and Republicans from start to finish. Turning a referendum on his job performance into a referendum on right-wing extremism and the racism of the California GOP was a gangster move. Newsom is a master campaigner. If only he was that skilled at governing, the Golden State might be in better shape.

Newsom also conjured up some political hocus pocus. He, a rich white man with a $200 haircut, who acquired his political career through his powerful and politically-connected family, convinced voters that he could better relate to the poor and disadvantaged than a self-made Black man who worked his way from South Central Los Angeles to the Ivy League, a law practice, and a national radio show. That’s powerful magic, folks.

Then there is the $300 million that Californians wasted on this recall election. That makes the ritzy French Laundry restaurant lobbyist dinner — which arguably triggered the recall — the most expensive dinner in the history of California. And Newsom, true to his Democratic roots, stuck taxpayers with the bill.

Imagine if state officials had that $300 million. I’m sure they could come up with a hundred different ways to waste it, like sending state unemployment checks to prisoners in Florida. You see, in California, wasting money is our favorite pastime.

Finally, it was surreal that Newsom — who has ignored and underserved people of color for the entirety of a nearly three-decade-long political career in what has grown into a “majority-minority” state — hit the diversity note so hard in the final days of the campaign.

When it comes to race and ethnicity, Newsom is like that fool’s gold they sell to tourists up in the old mining towns near Sacramento: glittery but phony. The wealthy vintner and restaurateur seems to have barely noticed the demographic changes that happened around him his entire life.

Newsom is a good politician with loads of charisma. But he is also the Democrat’s version of Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah. The embodiment of life on Easy Street, the governor is clueless about people who don’t look like him.

Bill Clinton was the White guy who understood Black folks. George W. Bush was the White guy who understood Latinos. Barack Obama was the Black guy who understood white folks. Newsom is the white guy who only understands other white folks.

Yet, Newsom claimed, it was Elder who put pluralism “at risk.”

“We’re in Long Beach,” Newsom told a cheering crowd in his final rally the day before the election. “One of the most diverse cities in the most diverse county, L.A. County, in the most diverse state, California, in the world’s most diverse democracy, the United States of America.”

On election night, a triumphant Newsom declared California to be on the right track.

“I want to focus on what we said yes to as a state,” he said. “We said yes to vaccines. We said yes to ending this pandemic. We said yes to people’s right to vote without fear of fake fraud (charges) or voter suppression. We said yes to women’s fundamental constitutional right to decide for herself what she does with her body and her fate and future. We said yes to diversity. We said yes to inclusion. We said yes to pluralism. We said yes to all those things that we hold dear as Californians and I would argue as Americans. … All those things were on the ballot.”

Luckily for an incumbent who has stumbled on everything from homelessness and crime to school closures and the pandemic lockdown, the one thing not on the ballot was competency.

Ruben Navarrette Jr.’s email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His podcast, “Ruben in the Center,” is available through every podcast app.