Posted on 10/28/2007 7:25:18 AM PDT by shrinkermd
...Jindal campaigned as a conservative reformer, saying he wanted to pass strict ethics rules for the notoriously out-of-bounds Legislature but vowing also to spur business growth and open classrooms to the teaching of creationism as an alternative to evolution.
Veteran observers of Louisiana politics have cautioned that other ambitious reformers have been thwarted by the good-ol'-boy morass of Baton Rouge and the Legislature.
But Jindal starts his term with a clear mandate from the voters. Surprising almost everyone, he captured the governorship without a runoff, winning 54 percent of the votes against three major opponents -- two Democrats and an independent. A map of the election results shows a handful of parishes voting for locally based rivals, but all across the state, from the Gulf to the Arkansas border, Jindal was the top candidate. In some populous parishes, he beat the runner-up by better than 2 to 1.
That kind of populist backing, plus a state treasury swollen with oil and gas revenue, should give Jindal real leverage as he confronts the endemic problems of a state with lagging health and education standards and serious concerns about crime.
And Louisiana seems ready for change. After the lackluster performance of Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who wavered when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, people are eager for action.
With Jindal's impressive victory, Republicans have established a phalanx of successful conservative governors across the Southeast who share a pragmatic streak that voters seem to like. They are the mirror image of the band of pragmatic liberal governors the Democrats have elected in states ranging from New Hampshire to Arizona, but concentrated in the Midwest -- Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Next door to Louisiana in Mississippi, Haley Barbour, a former Wash
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Well it's hard to see how that's going to make Louisiana education any worse than it already is, but he's going to have his hands full passing any ethics rules in the snake pit that is the Louisiana legislature.
I hate to say this, but Bobby Jindal is not a “new breed” at all. He is representitive of what the GOP was all about prior to the bastardization of our party by the current breed of RINOs that have infested it.
Conservative ideals win every time they are embraced.
We need more Bobby Jindals and less of the HagelSnoweCollinsSpecter types.
I pray he can sustain his conservative principles and articulate them on the nation political stage in the not to distant future.
Mega! dittos to this, FRiend!
Next step is to open classrooms to the teaching of astrology as an alternative to astronomy.
We had Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania but he was voted out by the Pennsylvania electorate,
Specter wins year after year.
Jindal is already making a difference. Odom bows out of the race for agriculture commissioner. He went quietly, but he went. Hooray for Bobby!
“They are the mirror image of the band of pragmatic liberal governors the Democrats have elected in states ranging from New Hampshire to Arizona, but concentrated in the Midwest — Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma.”
Uh, Jen Granholm might’ve seemed pragmatic when the GOP controlled the Legislature, but the minute she won re-election and the Dems took control of the state House, she became a borrow, tax and spend liberal.
In fact, her ideas were so expensive and ill-conceived that even her own party wouldn’t pass them.
Louisiana (more specifically New Orleans) was so bad-to-the-bone CORRUPT under the Democraticans who have run the state since Reconstruction days, that establishing a Caliphate under shari’a law would have been an improvement.
Bobby Jindal is still going to have to remove all the old wreckage left by decades of slovenly administrations and unregulated graft. It is going to be an uphill battle, and largely a thankless one, but still one that can and must be won.
Count me with you there as well.
Bobby will be undertaking a tough job in a state that has been mired in corruption even while Republicans held the Governorship for 16 of the last 27 years.
Good article except for this propogandizing: “who share a pragmatic streak that voters seem to like. They are the mirror image of the band of pragmatic liberal governors”:..
Shows: Liberals don’t want true Conservatives (idealists); AKA another Ronald Reagan-Here’s the pregmatism went out the door..and real conservative-reform is showcased in the former home of Katrina! GO JINDAL!
Yet the Landrieu Lt. Gov beat a well known GOP candidate at 57%.
Totally backwards to the GOP vs Dim voting ratio statewide.
Gov Bobby should look into this!
“We had Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania but he was voted out by the Pennsylvania electorate,
Specter wins year after year.”
Here in Texas, we are stuck with Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchinson. YUCK!
KBH has designs on quitting the Senate (Thank GOD!!) to run for Governor. Perry is backing Rudy in hopes of becoming the candidate for VP.
I cannot and will not support either of thse people at all.
The office of Lt. Governor in Louisiana is a joke. Empty suits and chair warmers like Mitchy-boy and BLANK-O, who held it before, are perfect for it.
It’s a glorified tourism directors job. Nothing more.
On the other hand, mandated the state’s constitution, the Governor’s powers are some of the strongest if not THE strongest in the country. That’s why Jindal has a real shot at making a huge difference.
BLANK-O had the power but was too stupid to do anything with it..........thankfully.
You are right. It’s just good to see one in office.
After all, look what happened in CA when they voted Arnie in just because he could win. First red flad there is “look who he is married to”.
If it looks like a fish, smells like a fish, it's probably a dim!
:’) self-ping.
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