Consolation for Jindal
In light of the kind words I had for Bobby Jindal earlier in the week, I thought I should weigh in on his response to the President’s address. It hurts to say it, but the speech was awful. It was a lost opportunity of epic proportions, unequaled since…
Bill Clinton’s awful nomination speech at the 1988 Democratic Convention. The speech was so long and so boring that the entirely Democratic crowd cheered when Clinton finally said “In conclusion…”
Rising star. Southern governor. Rhodes Scholar. Clinton’s example shows that talented politicians do get a second chance.
Now back to Jindal’s speech for the moment. I agree with the criticism that Jindal delivered a shopworn Republican message about the need for less government and lower taxes. But the entire party is struggling right now to adapt its message, so if Jindal delivered the old message competently, his speech would’ve been a footnote, not a headline.
The real issue was the delivery. Although hesitant to praise fellow Manhattan nativeMatt Yglesias lest I validate his condescending snark, I think Matt captured the problem quite well:
Bobby Jindal apparently believes it’s appropriate to address the citizens of the United States in a tone that suggests we’re all nine years old.
Where Matt goes too far is his suggestion that somehow Jindal really thought it was a good idea to sound like an elementary school teacher. I think it makes a lot more sense so say that Jindal was struggling to find an effective tone that balanced his own intellect with a more accessible common touch.
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2 Responses to “Consolation for Jindal”
“The real issue was the delivery.”
Apparently there is another “little issue” now. One of crdibility. There is the very real possibility that Jindall lied about his heroic encounter with the sheriff during Katrina and the recue boats episode…
(Please go to memeorandum for about a dozen posts on this)
My interpretation of the peculiar nature of the Bobby Jindal/Mr. Rogers nexus is that, as the abject failure of a generation of Republican governing is revealed, a reverse snowball effect is rapidly stripping the façade from every facet of their philosophy. And really, wasn’t most of that philosophy just an appeal to our inner 4 year old? A woefully incomplete list might include: “nobody could have predicted…”; governing by “I'm a gut player. I rely on my instincts”; winks as a debate technique; greed is good; Joe the Plumber as an economic authority; tax cuts solve every problem; “drill, baby, drill”; “we won the midterms, it’s our due”; freedom fries; “deficits don’t matter”; “you’re with us or you’re with the terrorists”; “Oh, yeah, well I’ll double Guantanamo, nyah, nyah” debates; “government is the problem”; turdblossom; “go shopping”; etc., etc., ad nauseum.
In this more charitable view, poor Governor Jindal was just at the “right” place at the wrong time.