Jindal has not been buried in or part of academia.
Palin resigned as govenor so as to be more outspoken.
As for the horrible Jindal speech, he had a cold and was in an echo chamber. He talks too fast for me, but...
The point is, Jindal is very intelligent and not a lightweight thinker which was your initial comment.
One can be intelligent yet not be a heavy thinker. It’s not a function of just intelligence, but also personal initiative, and desire.
Very few have the drive to think fast on their feet.