Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Slumdog Governor: Bobby Jindal Casting Himself as the Anti-Obama

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal rebutted Barack Obama's first address to congress in a folksy, Andy Griffin-eqsue speech that did nothing to hide his 2012 ambitions.

Jindal's clearly trying to instill common ground with the popular president among voters. "Like the president's father, my own parents came to this country from a distant land," Jindal said shortly into the speech.

But Jindal drew the line there, accusing President Obama and the Democratic congress of irresponsibility. "That is precisely what the Democrats in Congress just did. It's irresponsible. And it's no way to strengthen our economy, create jobs, or build a prosperous future for our children," Jindal said.

Some of Jindal's criticisms were downright perplexing. "While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a 'magnetic levitation' line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called 'volcano monitoring,'" Jindal said.

So fuel-eficient government cars, long-distance mass transit, and keeping an eye on volcanoes like Mount St. Helens are all a waste of money? Well, I suppose volcano monitoring wouldn't be terribly important for a Republican, since Hawaii and Washington tend to bleed blue.

This isn't Jindal's first tussle with President Obama. Late last week, he announced that his state would decline part of its allotted piece of the stimulus package. The reasoning being that the federal money would eventually run out. Well, Governor Jindal, as a former House member, you should be aware of this thing called a sunset provision. Look into it.

In any case, Jindal will most likely be forced into accepting the money. Even if he refused it, what would be the practical purpose? The money is already out there, if he doesn't take it, someone else will. But there is no practical purpose, it is merely part of his plan to establish himself as the "Anti-Obama," a fellow minority with a message of hope that mirrors the president on every issue. There has been a recent power vacuum in the Republican party and Jindal isn't hesitating to step in and fill the void.

Governor Jindal, perhaps you should address of some of the problems in your own state before throw your hat in the ring.

Watch Jindal's Response to Obama

1 comment:

  1. Said by a Anon on 4chan. The wording was too delicious not to post: "His speech sucked! First he walks in akwardly with that car salesman's smile then goes into a diatribe about his folksy days as a young lad in America, everything about him was fake and annoying, he managed to mangle a katrina story by his awful timing and the way he spoke, he has the charisma of a broken hard-shell taco discarded in a sewer dump."

    Try getting THAT image out of your head, America.

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