During the whole recall debacle, a friend of mine told me that Schwarzenegger was popular with students (and Davis unpopular) because under Davis, fees had been rising. So did resentment. Students apparently believed in Schwarzenegger’s swagger about cutting taxes and fixing things up painlessly.

What fools. That’ll teach them not to study history: in such lean times, education has always been the first to suffer. Across the board, college tuition and fees will rise between 10 and 40 percent. Community colleges will up per-unit fees from $18 to $26. Not exactly a “tax” hike, but more or less the equivalent, especially to struggling California families trying to put kids through school, or kids (like I was) trying to work their own way through.

In addition to that, Arnold will kick these students while they are down, by limiting the number of students who can attend, turning away tens of thousands of students. Apparently, Arnold has taken a good, long look at the kind of McJobs that the Bush economy is promising and has decided that we won’t need so many college graduates, after all.

“What it means is that we have to cut back for the next two years until we get out of this crisis,” Schwarzenegger said. “There are certain things you have to do in terms of sacrifices you have to make. It’s that simple.”

Oh, it’s that simple now. How about during the campaign, Arnold? Too complex for you to figure out then? Or too much truth for your voters to handle?

And the education bit is just part of the picture, as Californians in all areas of life who supported Arnold are discovering that there are no magical endings, as Arnold, step by painful step, starts gutting their programs, stealing local taxes, and starts spreading the pain around–pain he castigated Davis for spreading.