Californians voted in 2003 to recall then-Governor Gray Davis and replace him with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Gov. Schwarzenegger was re-elected in a landslide to a second term in 2006.

Now that his reign as California Governor is almost at an end, some are looking back and reflecting on Schwarzenegger's governorship, including author and Forbes contributor Joel Kotkin.

In an op-ed piece  that appeared on Forbes.com, Kotkin paints a largely negative picture of Gov. Schwarzenegger's seven-year reign, arguing that the one word that best describes is "failure."

Kotkin wrote:

"Schwarzenegger never grew beyond the role of a clueless political narcissist. As the state sunk into an   ever deeper fiscal crisis, he continued to expend his energy on the grandiose and beyond the point: establishing a Californian policy for combating climate change, boosting an unaffordable High-Speed Rail system, and even eliminating plastic bags. These may be great issues of import, but they are far less pressing than a state’s descent into insolvency.

The Terminator came into office ostensibly to reform California politics, reduce taxation and “blow up the boxes” of the state’s bureaucracy. He failed on all three counts. The California political system–particularly after the GOP’s November Golden State wipeout–is, if anything, moredominated by public employee unions and special interests (including “green” venture capitalists) than when Gray Davis ruled. Taxes, despite efforts by members of Schwarzenegger’s own Republican Party, have steadily increased, mostly in the form of sales and other regressive taxes. The bureaucracy, with its huge pension costs,  continued to swell until this year even as state unemployment climbed well over double digits."

What's more, Kotkin goes on to say that California's current government can be seen as "a cautionary tale in colossal mismanagement".

It is in this environment, he further argues, that allowed Jerry Brown--referred to by Kotkin as "the eccentric Machiavellian master" and a "quirky dinosaur"--to get elected as California's governor again.

Read Kotkin's full opinion piece here.