There were plenty of lessons learned from Katrina on all levels--federal, state, and local--and the two hurricanes didn't compare to Katrina in terms of damage and severity. I am not trying to downplay his performance, but it was not remarkably different from other governors in the region. Perry did a great job as well. Itr was just a matter of activating existing plans.
Palin has done similar things in reducing taxes, ethics reform, etc. She is also the country's most popular governor.
Do you honestly think that Palin can out-debate Obama? Please. We need someone who’s a smart (emphasis on smart) conservative who can out-debate the heck out of Obama.
Hell yes, especially with a few years of experience to get ready. Are you implying she is not smart? She sure as hell did a better job than Biden despite not being a Washington insider and with just a few weeks to prepare. Obama had 19 Dem debates in the primaries in preparation for the three with McCain. Huckabee, Giuliani, Romney, Thompson, and Hunter could have wiped the floor with Obama in the debates. McCain is the worst possible person we could have put up against him.
Palin is far from past. She now has more name recognition than Jindal. Palin has achieved national celebrity status. Relatively few Americans know anything about Jindal.
Did anyone in 2004 think Obama was going to be the Dem nominee for President, much less becoming the President in 2008? My point is that just because Jindal is unknown now doesn’t mean that he can’t be the nominee in 2012. Trust me, there are enough conservatives out there who are willing to raise money for him or support him... even now. Not being well-know is not a big obstacle if you have 4 years to change that.
I promise this will be the last Jindal-boosting posting (I’m sure everyone is sick of my posting as it is!). An excerpt from a local New Orleans article today — it’s very interesting and reveals much Jindal’s attractiveness:
Jindal blamed this year’s GOP’s losses on the party straying from the themes of fiscal conservatism, anti-corruption and policy innovation that worked in the previous decade. “You can’t beat something with nothing, “ Jindal said. “For too long it seemed the Republican message was, ‘vote for Republicans because the other side is worse.’ And that’s simply not a good enough reason to win elections.”
Ornstein, of the American Enterprise Institute, said states likely will continue to be crucibles for experimentation during Barack Obama’s administration, as the new president will inherit record budget deficits that will make it tough for him to fulfill his ambitious domestic agenda. And that, in turn, could work to Jindal’s advantage. “We’re not going to have the resources or the votes (in Washington) to do sweeping health care changes, “ Ornstein said.
Allying both wings
Should Jindal enter the national fray, Republicans will be hoping he can help reconcile a party that occasionally has been riven by dissent between social conservatives and those who consider economic issues such as spending and taxes to be paramount.
“He is one of the few Republican politicians that has been able to fuse the two parts of the Republican Party, the social conservatives and the business conservatives, “ said Wayne Parent, an LSU political science professor.