Bobby Jindal - what's the big deal?

[BlueSwan]

Why are people talking about him as if he's the saviour of the GOP - the republican Obama if you will. I'm not sold on this guy yet. From what I've seen he seems articulate and intelligent, but many politicans are articulate and intelligent. What's so special about him other than his age?

[phk]

Why are people talking about him as if he's the saviour of the GOP - the republican Obama if you will. I'm not sold on this guy yet. From what I've seen he seems articulate and intelligent, but many politicans are articulate and intelligent. What's so special about him other than his age?

He's South Asian.

[BlueSwan]

Why are people talking about him as if he's the saviour of the GOP - the republican Obama if you will. I'm not sold on this guy yet. From what I've seen he seems articulate and intelligent, but many politicans are articulate and intelligent. What's so special about him other than his age?

He's South Asian.

Right, that makes him different, but I don't see how that's going to be an advantage. Not a whole lot of Asians living in the US.

[memphis]

Why are people talking about him as if he's the saviour of the GOP - the republican Obama if you will. I'm not sold on this guy yet. From what I've seen he seems articulate and intelligent, but many politicans are articulate and intelligent. What's so special about him other than his age?

He's South Asian.

Right, that makes him different, but I don't see how that's going to be an advantage. Not a whole lot of Asians living in the US.

GOP ia hoping other browns will be attracted to a non-white candidate. He's a first generation American and he has extensive experience reforming healthcare which everybody agrees is in crisis mode.

[bgwah]

Unfortunately for Jindal, South Asians don't make about one fifth of the Republican Party. That alone will make it tougher for him to win the GOP primary than it was for Obama to win the Democratic primary.

And if Jindal is up against a white candidate in the general---especially from the South or its peripheral, he would be utterly decimated on a 1936 scale. If he's up another minority like Obama, it will be interesting but I doubt he would do better than McCain.

[Keystone Phil]

I like Jindal and wouldn't have a problem strongly supporting him in the General but he's not my number one choice. He might be over hyped and could be a major risk. Then again, considering my first choice in 2012...

[paul718]

the republican Obama if you will

[GMantis]

Most conservative Republicans believe that McCain lost because he wasn't conservative eough, so they think that the GOP should promote ultraconservative candidates, especially young and articulate ultraconservative candidates. Jindal fits this bill very well, though some think that Palin is even better.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Jindal is my first choice, he's as conservative as Palin but more articulate.  Jindal's biggest strength may his successful handling of Hurricane Gustav after the incredibly failure of his predecessor with Katrina.  He's also tackled health care and is 100% pro-life.  He's really a great candidate because he rallies the best and has that inspiring story that apparently America craves

[Lunar]

Because he's young, intelligent, articulate, and represents the less-white future of the Republican party.  He's a government reformer and passionately religious.

What more could you f'in ask for?  [maybe a Hispanic?]

[Workers' Friend]

Because he's young, intelligent, articulate, and represents the less-white future of the Republican party.  He's a government reformer and passionately religious.

What more could you f'in ask for?  [maybe a Hispanic?]

And that is why if he wins the primaries, I am voting for him in 2012.

[Keystone Phil]

Most conservative Republicans believe that McCain lost because he wasn't conservative eough

I doubt that. I certainly don't think that. Then again, most people know that I think McCain is a pretty standard conservative Republican.

Either way, this campaign wasn't about conservatives or liberals.

[paul718]

Jindal is my first choice, he's as conservative as Palin but more articulate.  Jindal's biggest strength may his successful handling of Hurricane Gustav after the incredibly failure of his predecessor with Katrina.  He's also tackled health care and is 100% pro-life.  He's really a great candidate because he rallies the best and has that inspiring story that apparently America craves

Has he implemented his health care plan?  Has it been effective?

[Mr.Jones]

Jindal will not win because a big part of hardore GOP supporters will never vote for a brown skin/black man. GOP needs to find a white person who is smarter then Sarah Palin, is young and while conservative, very practical and adaptive too to changing circumstance, and who can connect with the next generation.

I am sure that 12 years of time will be enough to find such a person . The only problem is in next 12 years, the country will be even less conservative from now on. And I think this is the real big problem for the Reps. With more education and technological and communication development, the number of hard core conservatives will come down and down. And that may spell disaster for the GOP base in the long run. We have already seen how in many swinging states, McCain was able to pull the majority of only 61+ age voters. This is not the best sign for the Rep. Slowly but surely the next generation with more liberal attitude and less religious attitude will be the next majority, and if GOP doesn't adjust their strategy, they may eventually become a very marginalised party.

The bottomline, GOP not only needs a fresh leader with smart ideas, they may also need to tweak their political phylosophy with changing times. Else their name will join the history books besides Dinosaurs.

[paul718]

Jindal will not win because a big part of hardore GOP supporters will never vote for a brown skin/black man. GOP needs to find a white person who is smarter then Sarah Palin, is young and while conservative, very practical and adaptive too to changing circumstance, and who can connect with the next generation.

If he can win in Louisiana, he can win a Republican primary.   

I am sure that 12 years of time will be enough to find such a person . The only problem is in next 12 years, the country will be even less conservative from now on. And I think this is the real big problem for the Reps. With more education and technological and communication development, the number of hard core conservatives will come down and down. And that may spell disaster for the GOP base in the long run. We have already seen how in many swinging states, McCain was able to pull the majority of only 61+ age voters. This is not the best sign for the Rep. Slowly but surely the next generation with more liberal attitude and less religious attitude will be the next majority, and if GOP doesn't adjust their strategy, they may eventually become a very marginalised party.

The bottomline, GOP not only needs a fresh leader with smart ideas, they may also need to tweak their political phylosophy with changing times. Else their name will join the history books besides Dinosaurs.

Take a deep breath, pal.  Your logic isn't much different from a gloating Democrat circa 1964.  The Dems just scored a victory coming on the heels of a Presidency with approval ratings at 20% and a Republican Congress full of corruption and waste.  And please show me the correlation between educational/technological/communication advancement and a decrease in self-identified "conservatives".

[BM]

The fact that he has a southern accent could help with the stereotypical racist primary voters.  It's not like his speeches sound like Apu from The Simpsons.

[The Duke]

He's the smartest potential candidate we have and he has credentials on health care, which is an issue we need to do better on.  He also helps wipe the stink off of us from Katrina.  And he's young.

[paul718]

He's the smartest potential candidate we have and he has credentials on health care, which is an issue we need to do better on.  He also helps wipe the stink off of us from Katrina.  And he's young.

I would put Romney's resume up against Jindal's. 

I understand he's formulated a comprehensive health-care plan, but has he implemented it?  Has it been effective? 

And I really don't care how old he is.  I don't vote based on youth. 

[Workers' Friend]

The fact that he has a southern accent could help with the stereotypical racist primary voters.  It's not like his speeches sound like Apu from The Simpsons.

Now I want to see Apu as President.

[BlueSwan]

Jindal will not win because a big part of hardore GOP supporters will never vote for a brown skin/black man. GOP needs to find a white person who is smarter then Sarah Palin, is young and while conservative, very practical and adaptive too to changing circumstance, and who can connect with the next generation.

If he can win in Louisiana, he can win a Republican primary.   

I am sure that 12 years of time will be enough to find such a person . The only problem is in next 12 years, the country will be even less conservative from now on. And I think this is the real big problem for the Reps. With more education and technological and communication development, the number of hard core conservatives will come down and down. And that may spell disaster for the GOP base in the long run. We have already seen how in many swinging states, McCain was able to pull the majority of only 61+ age voters. This is not the best sign for the Rep. Slowly but surely the next generation with more liberal attitude and less religious attitude will be the next majority, and if GOP doesn't adjust their strategy, they may eventually become a very marginalised party.

The bottomline, GOP not only needs a fresh leader with smart ideas, they may also need to tweak their political phylosophy with changing times. Else their name will join the history books besides Dinosaurs.

Take a deep breath, pal.  Your logic isn't much different from a gloating Democrat circa 1964.  The Dems just scored a victory coming on the heels of a Presidency with approval ratings at 20% and a Republican Congress full of corruption and waste.  And please show me the correlation between educational/technological/communication advancement and a decrease in self-identified "conservatives".

There are several studies that show that the level of religiousness is inversely correlated with the level of education and this is where I see a problem for the GOP, that they need to address.

Religion will almost invariably become less of an influence on American society. Now, I don't expect the number of atheists to magically explode over the next decades, but I do expect more people having a "relaxed" attitude towards religion and more importantly: a very sceptical attitude towards fundamentalists. So the challenge for the GOP will be how to simultaneously appeal to the fairly fundamentalist christian right and to moderates.

Personally I feel that the way forward for the GOP is *not* an emphasis on pro choice, on anti-gay rights on teaching ID in schools on oppsing sex education or *any* of that social conservative stuff. The likely trend is that people will gradually become more socially liberal. The way forward for the GOP is focusing on fiscal conservatism. I believe that americans in general are still very sceptical on anything resembling big government. Bush was not good for the GOP here since his econimic policies have been downright irresponsible.

A combination of tough fiscal conservatism and a moderate stance on social issues could IMO well be a winning formula for the GOP. It is also a platform that attacks possible weaknesses of an Obama presidency. Ironically, the best candidate to do this, would be a fairly religious candidate, whom the christian right already trusts. Hence he/she wouldn't risk losing too many of their votes due to this platform.

[Lunar]

As a side comment, I wouldn't be that upset of Jindal beat Obama.  Well, moderately.  But Jindal would be the guy I most trust to run the country from the "potential to win the GOP primary" wing of the party.  It just occurred to me that this guy has a lot of appeal to independents if he can define himself right.

Would it seem too gimmicky for the GOPO to run their single minority senator or governor in 2012?*

*Note, the Democrats are -hardly- better, but this question is whether it would seem like they were just trying to one-up Obama on skin pigmentation.

Jindal has a potential to be a "movement" candidate like Obama and, to a lesser extent, Palin.  He's a competent administrator and I have a hard time believing he could run anything but a great campaign.  Dare I say he could even beat Palin?  He's just as religious as she is but he'd have the support of the WSJ-wing and reform wings of his party too...  He just seems like he would run a great campaign (possibly lose partially due to racism?) while Palin would likely run a less smooth machine.

Just speculation.  But the fact that I'm extremely comfortable with a Jindal presidency on first-thought speaks wonders for his prospects since I can't think of anyone else that has a shot that evokes the same feeling.

[phk]

As a side comment, I wouldn't be that upset of Jindal beat Obama.  Well, moderately.  But Jindal would be the guy I most trust to run the country from the "potential to win the GOP primary" wing of the party.  It just occurred to me that this guy has a lot of appeal to independents if he can define himself right.

Would it seem too gimmicky for the GOPO to run their single minority senator or governor in 2012?*

*Note, the Democrats are -hardly- better, but this question is whether it would seem like they were just trying to one-up Obama on skin pigmentation.

Jindal has a potential to be a "movement" candidate like Obama and, to a lesser extent, Palin.  He's a competent administrator and I have a hard time believing he could run anything but a great campaign.  Dare I say he could even beat Palin?  He's just as religious as she is but he'd have the support of the WSJ-wing and reform wings of his party too...  He just seems like he would run a great campaign (possibly lose partially due to racism?) while Palin would likely run a less smooth machine.

Just speculation.  But the fact that I'm extremely comfortable with a Jindal presidency on first-thought speaks wonders for his prospects since I can't think of anyone else that has a shot that evokes the same feeling.

Well keep in mind, he'll only be 41 years old in 2012 and I think he will only run if theres a major backlash against Obama. Otherwise he goes onto 2016. He seems calculating like Obama.

[Wall St. Wiz]

There is a tremendous amount of excitement for Jindal among conservatives.  He's already got Hannity and Limbaugh on board. Hell, Limbaugh called him the next Ronald Reagan.  I'd say the conservative wing of the party is already locked up if he decides to run.

There is good reason for the excitement, there are so many things be brings to the table.  Most importantly to me, he is able to speak well, and communicate articulately.  The GOP tends to run people like both Bush's, Dole, and McCain who can't put a coherent sentence together. He can match Obama on that front. 

He's got a great story to tell about his life and family.  He has an awesome resume, 3 terms in congress, health care experience, Rhodes scholar, governor.  His resume today is much better then Obama's.

It's a question of when, not if, he decides to run.  He'll be 41 in 2012, so if Obama looks strong he'll wait until 2016.  This is the reason I think he took himself out of the veepstakes this year.  He saw the writing on the wall. 

[cannonia]

Jindal will not win because a big part of hardore GOP supporters will never vote for a brown skin/black man. GOP needs to find a white person who is smarter then Sarah Palin, is young and while conservative, very practical and adaptive too to changing circumstance, and who can connect with the next generation.

I am sure that 12 years of time will be enough to find such a person . The only problem is in next 12 years, the country will be even less conservative from now on. And I think this is the real big problem for the Reps. With more education and technological and communication development, the number of hard core conservatives will come down and down. And that may spell disaster for the GOP base in the long run. We have already seen how in many swinging states, McCain was able to pull the majority of only 61+ age voters. This is not the best sign for the Rep. Slowly but surely the next generation with more liberal attitude and less religious attitude will be the next majority, and if GOP doesn't adjust their strategy, they may eventually become a very marginalised party.

The bottomline, GOP not only needs a fresh leader with smart ideas, they may also need to tweak their political phylosophy with changing times. Else their name will join the history books besides Dinosaurs.

LOL

[AltWorlder]

Well, to be fair, are there any other young people in the GOP who are inspiring?  Sure Jindal has his race, but his background story is almost as interesting as Obama's, he has a good resume, and he speaks quite well.  Palin, in retrospect, looked good on paper but in reality she's not all who she's cracked up to be.

Is there anyone else young in the GOP?  Paul Ryan?  Cantor?  Pawlenty?