California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his State of the State address Tuesday, assumed the role of director of “post-partisanship,” outlining an ambitious political agenda that will prove complex, costly, and extremely difficult, but promises big results in critical areas from health care to the environment.

As perhaps only he can (at least without widespread ridicule), the Governator defined the task before him as epic in proportions, urging that the challenge be accepted because the Golden State is “the modern equivalent of the ancient city-states of Athens and Sparta” - the epicenter of the ideas and strength needed to deliver a brighter future.

The governor’s lofty goals emerged just months after a campaign in which many Californians wondered which Schwarzenegger might emerge for a full term:

• The brash, hard-core conservative who called Democrats “girlie men” and publicly engaged the all-powerful teachers union in a battle (he lost)
• The social progressive who helped deliver landmark legislation on global warming and increased the minimum wage.

The answer this week seemed to suggest something for every audience: He pushed to reduce greenhouse gases and expand health care - both signature Democratic issues - while proposing to increase water storage and to reduce welfare spending, proposals sure to appeal more to Republicans.

Arnold the Collaborator has officially arrived.

For all the criticism over his spending cuts, Schwarzegger appears ready to champion aggressive environmental policy. California shall soon create the world’s first global warming pollution standard for transportation fuels, ratcheting down fuel carbon content 10 percent by 2020, he vowed.

The new standard could have implications for the auto industry and change the way gasoline is produced around the globe. Environmentalists hailed it as a way to reduce one of the state’s chief sources of greenhouse gas emissions and kick-start fledgling alternative fuel technologies.

“This is a big deal. This policy will be noticed worldwide,” said Eric Heitz, president of the Energy Foundation, which monitors the world’s energy technology.

Advocates of the proposal said competition from alternative fuels and a reduction in dependence on oil would prevent gasoline prices from rising, but oil companies said changing the mix of fuels to reduce emissions would carry a cost.

“Our cars have been running on dirty fuel too long. Our country has been dependent on foreign oil for too long. I ask you to set in motion the means to free ourselves from oil and from OPEC,” Schwarzenegger told a joint session of the Legislature.

Schwarzenegger plans to issue an executive order requiring the state’s Air Resources Board to draft rules for a new carbon fuel standard, which would take effect in January 2010. His authority to do that comes from landmark legislation signed last year aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions across a wide spectrum of industries.

Gasoline sold in California already contains 6 percent ethanol. The amount could be boosted to 10 percent without any harm to auto engines, advocates of the governor’s plan said. Such an increase would not be enough on its own to meet the governor’s emission reduction standard.

Although the European Union is weighing a similar rule on carbon emissions, California would be the first government to create one.

Since taking office in Sacramento, Schwarzenegger has made combatting global warming a centerpiece of his administration, signing landmark legislation last year to reduce emissions from stationary sources, such as refineries and power plants, to 1990 levels by 2020.

Schwarzenegger’s predecessor, Gray Davis, who he defeated in the state’s historic recall election in 2003, signed the nation’s first bill to curb carbon dioxide emissions from tailpipes in 2002.

That law required automakers to lower emissions of cars, SUVs and pickups by nearly 30 percent between 2009-2014. A legal challenge to the law by the auto industry has threatened that timetable.