Tomorrow night, Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, will give the Republican response to Barack Obama’s televised speech to a joint session of Congress. Jindal is the rising star of the Republican party.
Only 37, Jindal is the governor of Louisiana having already been a Congressman and an assistant secretary at Health and Human Services in the Bush administration. He’s a fiscal and social conservative and is rapidly developing a deserved reputation for competent governance; just compare the state of Louisiana’s response to hurricanes Gustav and Katrina. The Bush presidency lost the Republicans their historic reputation for competence, Jindal offers them a chance to win it back and it is hard to see how the Republicans can win again until the voters regard them as competent.
He is the son of immigrants giving him greater reach than most Republican politicians and rebutting the image of the party as one of angry white men.
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