Governor Bobby Jindal
Last night, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal gave the Republicans’ response to President Obama’s State of the Union address. I give the young state executive leader a high grade.
His opening featured a jab at insurance companies, sharing a story of his parents coming to Lousiana from India while his mother was pregnant with him.
“I was what folks in the insurance industry now call a ‘pre-existing condition,’” Jindal said. ”To find work, my dad picked up the yellow pages and started calling local businesses. Even after landing a job, he could still not afford to pay for my delivery – so he worked out an installment plan with the doctor. Fortunately for me, he never missed a payment.”
He spoke directly on the best view of the health care issue: “We stand for universal access to affordable health care coverage. What we oppose is universal government-run health care. Health care decisions should be made by doctors and patients, not by government bureaucrats.”
His speech also featured a pointed question: “Who amongst us would ask our children for a loan so we could spend money, we do not have, on things we do not need?”
And he was straightforward on differences of philosophy of government: “We (Republicans) oppose the national Democratic view that says the way to strengthen our country is to increase dependence on government. We believe the way to strengthen our country is to restrain spending in Washington, to empower individuals and small businesses to grow our economy and create jobs.”
Jindal was humble and admitted Republican officials have not stood their ground on promoting “less-government” principles. “Republicans lost your trust, and rightly so,” he said. “Our party is determined to regain your trust.”
Gov. Jindal has proven to be a solid leader. I hope we will be hearing more about him in the future.
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February 25, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Brian Hobbs
While I admire Gov. Jindal and hate to disagree with my fellow-blogger, I am afraid he turned in a weak performance by my estimation. In fact, (a) his presence was not commanding, (b) he message for worn-over, and (c)
Ross Douthat’s insights here are insightful: http://rossdouthat.theatlantic.com/
February 25, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Chris
Good point on “not commanding.” I think you mean in (b) that his message was worn-over. I disagree because it’s important to get the message across of less-government control and repeat it often.
I believe Jindal’s intention was to relate and connect to Americans in a struggling economy, and I believe he succeeded. He was likeable and mostly positive.