That’s Right Nate

Yesterday, I called Bobby Jindal the clear winner for his ability to take complex issues like magnetic levitating trains and make them sound much less intimidating by adopting a speaking style somewhat similar to the great Mr. Fred Rogers.  However, some of you didn’t want to take my word for it.   On Tuesday, the Louisiana GOP posted to Youtube a clip showing a focus group reacting to Bobby Jindal’s speech.  They didn’t post Jindal’s words for school children will be reading them in text books for years to come–instead they showed us how real Americans felt about the Louisiana Governor in case we still weren’t sure how we should feel.

The first person interviewed was an older woman with a raccoon or some other such furry animal or hat upon her head.   She summed up the governor performance by saying, “I thought Jindal performed exemplarily.”  I took it from her elocutioning that she was probably a Bush supporter as well.  She did comment on the Mr. Rogers quality that I also found so appealing.

Another woman followed up saying “his patriotism was the overriding theme in what he had to say”.  I to was looking to see whether Jindal or Obama would come off as more patriotic.  The budget stuff can take care of itself, but a true leader carries his love of country in his heart, just under his flag lapel pin.

Finally, a man who pulled off the vest look nicely praised Bobby Jindal’s belief in people over government doing everything for us.  Of course this belief has led Jindal to his principled stand against federal unemployment monies for the jobless in Lousiana.  I mean come on.  Grab your horn and go to New Orleans.  You don’t need a bailout when you can jam on the street corner.  Jindal has emerged as a rising star following his speech on Tuesday night.  Everyday Americans think so and if you don’t, maybe you need to question your own patriotism.

After years of sending jobs to India, America has got a new Indian import and that import is called hope.  First, came the blockbuster movie Slumdog Millionare in which a boy rises out of the slums without any government assistance.  Now comes the next Ronald Reagan Indian-American Bobby Jindal hitting a home run (or the  cricket equivalent–a 6) as he responds to Obama’s lackluster speech last night.

Now, I have to give credit where it is due.  I’m not the one who came up with the next Reagan comparison.  That came from no greater judge of talent than Rush Limbaugh who had this to say about Jindal’s oratorical skills “When I interviewed Bobby Jindal for the Limbaugh Letter a year and a half ago or so I immediately thought I was talking to the elected version of the next Ronald Reagan, the closest thing we’ve got to an elected version of the next Ronald Reagan in the United States today.”

What I admired most about Jindal’s speech was his pleasant demeanor which reminded me of days as a child watching Mr. Rogers change his clothes in front of me.  I also loved his stories and the way he defended Bush’s handling of Hurricane Katrina by explaining that the people of New Orleans didn’t want the federal government there.  They only got in the way of the sherrif who was going to rescue everybody.  If the government sticks its nose into the economic crisis, we’re only going to get in the way of all those mom and pop stores that could really rescue us.  As Jindal says, “there’s a lesson in this experience” and that lesson is that the only way out of this economic crisis is by following the same blue print we have over the past 8 years.   Why would we ever trust our government to get us out of this crisis when they have shown how incompetent they are over the past 8 years?  Only the Republicans seem to understand this.  Thank God there are people like Bobby Jindal to lead us into the future.  With performances like the one last night, you know he will take us far.

John McCain had a barbecue for three potential vice-presidential candidates this past weekend.  Each of them has a strength and weakness.  I would still like to see George Bush get the nod ala Yeltsin in Russia.  I know McCain is old, but if anything happenned to him we could just skip the VP in the line of seccession.  Here’s the rundown on the candidates:

Charlie Crist – It is odd to see an FOD in the GOP and it first I was a little worried about McCain selecting an openly gay man as Vice-President.  However, despite his own lifestyle, Crist has always managed to toe the party line and come out in favor of a pro-family lifestyle.  Perhaps, he can reach out to the old log cabin Republicans in an election where we may need every vote we can get.

Bobby Jindal – Jindal would be my top choice because of his economic background where McCain is limited.  In the mid-90s he was a senior consultant for the McKinsey Company, an advising firm that helped Allstate raise their profits from $82 million to over $2 billion. They did this by simply telling Allstate to stop payingso many claims.  Now some liberal bleeding hearts may cry for the people of New Orleans who weren’t insured even though they thought they were, but that’s why you don’t build your house below sea level.

Mitt Romney – Probably my second choice.  Like Saul on the road to Damascus, Mitt had a sudden transformation from moderate/liberal to staunch conservative.  Some will criticize about how a family values conservative could work to get hard core porn available in Marriott Hotel rooms world wide when he was on their board of directors, but I think that was before his conversion. 

Any of the 3 are more than capable of doing the job.  They all bring, experience, Chrisitan values, and conservative records (though in Romney’s case only a couple months old).  So come on John, the suspense is killing us.