Bobby Jindal’s response to Barack Obama’s speech last night flopped. In terms of content it fell back far too often on simplistic anti-government platitudes and did not offer anywhere near enough of an alternative vision for how to chart a course out of this crisis. But the content was not its biggest problem, the delivery was. It was far too infomercial-esque.
Some commenters on my earlier post on Jindal, in which I tipped him to be the next Republican president, are rushing to say that this proves that Jindal is overrated, that he’ll never make it on the national stage etc. But it is worth remembering that Bill Clinton’s debut on the national stage at the 1988 Democratic Convention was even more of a disaster.
One bad speech isn’t going to end Jindal’s national prospects. He is simply too talented and too successful a governor and politician to be kept down for long. Indeed, if the reaction to this address persuades Jindal to sit out 2012 and instead spend his time developing an impressive two-term record in Louisiana it might actually have been a blessing in disguise for him.
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