Posted on 02/12/2015 9:32:11 AM PST by Kaslin
Gov. Bobby Jindal's name is not first on most people's list of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, but maybe we should at least start paying attention to him. If one's political enemies are any indication of potential strength, Jindal of Louisiana may be a more formidable force than some people realize.
During a visit to Washington Monday, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank couldn't wait to attack Jindal and his record. Why bother with someone he and others consider a lightweight from a small Southern state, unless there is more there than the elites think?
In an interview with me, Jindal gave long and rapid-fire answers. The governor, ineligible for re-election due to term limits, seemed in a hurry. He said he'd decide in "two to three months" whether to run for president.
In January 2009, when I interviewed Jindal in his office in Baton Rouge, just days before President Obama's inauguration, the governor told me Republicans must decide what they are for before picking a presidential candidate. How's that going?
"We're doing better," he says, "but we have more work to do." He thinks Republicans should stop attacking Obamacare and start emphasizing what they would replace it with. He also faults members of his party for running against Obamacare in the last election and then "throwing in the towel and saying, 'Well, you can't really repeal tax increases; you can't really undo an entitlement program.'"
Jindal wants Republicans to get away from defining themselves as anti-Obama and the party of "no" and start showing people "we can be principled, conservative, not just a cheaper version of the Democratic Party."
What about Hillary Clinton? Can she be defeated if she runs?
"Absolutely," says a confident Jindal, as if he were coaching a team against a superior opponent. "As Republicans we don't need to obsess about our opponents, we don't need to define ourselves in opposition to our opponents. Let (Democrats) look backward; we need to look forward."
He says voters want the hard truth told to them, which immediately brings to mind the oft-quoted Jack Nicholson line from "A Few Good Men": "You can't handle the truth." In the age that obsesses with cultural embarrassments like the Kardashian family, the truth -- if we can agree on what that is -- may be the last thing people want to hear. But Jindal's sentiment is a noble one.
I ask him about the potential candidacy of former former-Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, and Jindal adopts Reagan's "11th Commandment" admonition never to criticize a fellow Republican: "Anybody who is thinking about running doesn't need to define himself against particular candidates. We need to say what we are for." While Jindal says he "has a lot of respect" for Bush, who once championed Common Core federal education standards. Jindal, however, opposes it. He adds he doesn't want to see "the establishment, the party donors, trying to clear the field for anybody. An open debate is good for the voters."
On foreign policy, he and former Sen. Jim Talent (R-Mo.) have written a paper on the subject. Among other things, he wants to arm the Kurds in their fight against ISIS in Iraq and demonstrate to our allies America's resolve to support them in any fight against the Islamic State, support he thinks is lacking under the Obama administration. He would also send arms to the Ukrainian military now fighting Russian troops.
On social issues, Jindal, a Roman Catholic, says: "I'm not changing my position on marriage or protecting human life. I know it's fashionable for a lot of politicians to change their minds..." It doesn't matter what the polls say on this. I'm not evolving with the polls."
Jindal is a long shot for president and even vice president, but he brings enthusiasm, a positive outlook and a decent record as governor and that's not a bad start for any presidential candidate
Exactly right. Hillary has been popping corn for that already. I welcome Bobby Jindahl as a candidate. He’s positive, enthusiastic and has some good ideas. he also has credentials in health care policy.
Hillary’s well-paid ‘opposition research’ organizations will be enough to contend with, for all of the candidates...we don’t need to help them. Focus on what can be done better. It doesn’t take a stretch to come up with better ideas than the Left has in mind.
Gov. Jindal and his official portrait.
I have always liked Jindal, especially the work he has done on education reform.
What do you mean he spend his entire time running for president? He wasn’t even on the list in 2008, nor was he on the 2012 election, because he didn’t run for it. So stop putting crab out out of your behind
Are you saying he inherited a surplus from Kathleen Blanco? I just can’t believe that
Like it or not, people want to vote for charismatic politicians. On a national stage, I’m guessing most voters will think Jindal has the charisma of a soggy sandwich.
He is in my top tier of candidates (along with Cruz, Palin, Santorum, and Pence). I could very, very easily support him.
“Gov. Jindal and his official portrait.”
That’s not his official portrait.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/02/bobby_jindal_portrait.html
“I like and admire Gov. Jindal. But that horrific response to Obama’s SOTU speech a few years ago pretty much took him out of the running.”
This ^^^^
As a resident of Louisiana I agree with you. He has been a disaster for this state, and yes, he has spent most of his time in office “positioning” himself to run for president. Maybe that term is more acceptable. He has been a major disappointment. Scott Walker is much more of a leader than Bobby Jindal is.
Looks like a 6th grader did that.
All these pundits touting Jindal would do well to ask Louisianians what they think of him. His approval rating is far below 50% for a reason, and it’s not just liberals who view him negatively.
Jindal is mind-numbing on the stump. About a week into ma national campaign his half of the electorate would fall asleep, the other half would not understand a word, and talking to him about the problem is hopeless because NOBODY can get a word in edgewise.
Great Governor, or so they say. Leave him there.
Strike the word “official” and insert portrait that hangs in his office.
On face value, yes. Nominally, the original Constitution proposes the VP as the second best person available to be POTUS. BUT.The 12th Amendment makes the VP not the second-best person (as measured by Electoral Vote count) to be POTUS but, rather, the political heir of the president. Any presidential candidate is explicitly incentivized (in the requirement that Electors vote for president and vice president, one of whom, at least, shall be from a state different from themselves) to select his VP candidate to unify the country (geography being the salient division at the time). Coincidentally, he is thereby likely to attract votes.
The upshot is that although governor is a natural proving ground for a presidential candidate, political considerations legitimately matter in the selection of a VP candidate. Richard Nixon, as Eisenhower’s VP candidate, actually schooled Eisenhower on that. Nixon was by then a seasoned political pro and, when given the VP slot, immediately made a speech designed to unify the Republican Party by appealing to the Taft faction. Ridiculous as it now sounds, that was controversial among Eisenhower partisans within the GOP. Nixon also functioned as an attack dog, which also is a conventional role for a VP candidate, allowing the presidential candidate to be “presidential” and above the fray.
My conclusion is that Buckeye McFrog’s point that
[Jindal would] make an excellent HHS Secretary. His management and waste cutting skills are par excellence.is on target. I want to see Cruz give it a shot for the presidential nomination but, if Walker were to win instead he could do far worse than Cruz as a VP candidate. And, if elected, he could do far worse than to nominate Cruz for a seat on SCOTUS, if/when such opening materialized.
Umm, No
Good Lord. We aren’t even over Mike Pence as the uniparty flavor of the week, and here comes Bobby Jindal!
Anyone, anyone but Ted Cruz (gasp!) of Sarah Palin (horrors!)
It's an unfortunate fact.
Because he was running for governor.
...nor was he on the 2012 election, because he didn’t run for it.
He was running for re-election as governor, and had said in 2010 that he would not be a candidate in 2012.
So stop putting crab out out of your behind
I don't have a clue what that even means.
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