He Can Actually Explain Why He Wants
The Unemployed Of Louisiana To Suffer!?
Bobby Jindal has marked himself as the Great Opposition to President Obama. His speech tonight was almost "Bush With A Brain" as one friend remarked.
Almost.
He alluded to Obama's race as a point in American history where Americans have come to accept a man because of his skills and not because of the color of his skin.
He HAD to say it.
He related a folksy story about Hurricane Katrina and his actions opposing a slow government response. He certainly didn't remind people that it was a Republican government, a Bush administration government. He just made a point about BIG government and bureaucracy. He also didn't mention that the last eight years of government were the most expensive years in our history.
I've "wordled" both speeches (below). Simply put: Jindal's was about himself and what he would do if he were President. President Obama's speech focused on the nation as whole and recovery, not just from the economic crisis, but from the last eight years of an inept yet arrogant administration.
Jindal has gained the spotlight these last weeks in openly criticizing Obama's Stimulus Plan. Yes, he rejected $98 million slated for Louisiana's unemployment benefits. But he still accepted $3.7 billion from the Plan.
He called the plan "irresponsible" and saying that "the way to lead is not to raise taxes and put more money and power in hands of Washington politicians."
Money and power in the hands of banks and corporations is, of course, more in the way of Jindal's style. And if Jindal gets his way, deregulation of everything is just four years away. So is Bobby Jindal just another George Bush?
Not quite. Jindal has an educational and political pedigree that Bush lacked: he actually learned things in school, became a Rhodes scholar (like Bill Clinton) and DIDN'T belong to Skull and Bones. And we don't think he's given any head of state an impromptu neck rub - yet.
And there are warning signs, the latest of which is buried deep in his response to the State of the Nation Address:
AP, Charles Babington:
In what sometimes sounded like a presidential campaign speech, Jindal said Washington should follow examples set by some state governments, including Louisiana's.
"Since I became governor," he said, "we cut more than 250 earmarks from our state budget" and "cut taxes six times, including the largest income tax cut in the history of our state."
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