re: Will the real Bobby please stand up
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Getting to know our governor is like cozying up to a porcupine
| By Walter Pierce | |
| Tuesday, June 23, 2009 | |
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Who the heck does Bobby Jindal think he is? I’d like to know, because I have no idea who he is. The intellectual policy wonk working hard to clean up Louisiana politics — appearances be damned — or just an ambitious politician using his home state as a means to an end, namely the White House? His birth name is Piyush, but he calls himself Bobby. An Indian-American — an overwhelmingly Democrat-leaning demographic — he’s a conservative Christian Republican. Who is this guy, really? Off and on he’s beginning to look like a one-termer. He certainly had “four years and done” written all over him a couple of weeks ago when four former governors — Kathleen Blanco, Mike Foster, Buddy Roemer and Dave Treen — descended on Baton Rouge to lobby for higher education. It was an intervention, these elders stepping in, and Jindal, squirming in the background, seemed sufficiently humbled. Even fellow members of the Grand Old Party in Louisiana have at times been so beside themselves with Jindal they’ve openly violated one of the Gipper’s central tenets: Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican. They’re not just speaking ill, they’re tearing him the proverbial new one. Yet many observers expected Jindal to get more roughed up than he has in this session, considering the bad taste in many lawmakers’ mouths after the pay-raise veto last year, not to mention Jindal’s “do as I say, not as I do” stance on ethics reform. State lawmakers and appointed members of boards and commissions are now subject to some rigorous ethical standards. But the same do not apply to the governor. Bobby Jindal’s administration remains the most opaque, the most impervious to sunlight, in these glorious states united. Last year he vetoed on technical grounds a bill that would have tracked political appointees who were also campaign contributors. This year, with the same bill retooled and humming, he outright opposed it. One suspects that when Timmy Teepell twisted the wind-up mechanism in Jindal’s back and he marched mechanically from behind the staircase in the governor’s mansion and into national embarrassment for his much-mocked response to President Obama’s speech to Congress early this spring — blank-eyed, flat-toned and programmed with the flaccid axioms of Reaganism — PiyushCo saw a horizon sparkling with unimpeded ascent. That was then. But volcanoes, like public perception, must be monitored. Somehow, some way, Louisiana has gone in 20 years from a $4 billion state budget to a $29 billion state budget, with a population that has remained essentially flat and human-welfare ratings that have remained at the bottom nationwide. And Jindal, like Bush, inherited a surplus and will leave office — whether he’s a one-termer or wins a second term — with a state in dire straits. Like Bush, he has spent a lot of time away from the office. But it’s not to the bramble-clearing sanctuary of Crawford; it’s to out-of-state fundraisers and speaking engagements. Jindal insists his aspirations are parochial. But it just doesn’t square with his actions. Clearly the man has ambition, and who can begrudge him that? But if governance of Louisiana is merely a stepping stone, beware the slippery slope. | |
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written by Soop , June 26, 2009
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written by rationalist , June 25, 2009
Walter Pierce rules! Thanks again for something factual and entertaining!!
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written by Rock-band-anyone? , June 25, 2009
Yea. You hit the nail on the head! Our Governor is lining his pockets, getting drunk with legislators, spending all his time at the duck camp, popping his wrist with rubber bands, crying on national tv, and having affairs and walking deep into the woods to seek remorse.
Oh wait. No he's not. Give me a break. Some people wouldn't know a good thing if a clown handed it to them on a grassy hill while the sun was shining. Find a new thing to gripe about. This topic sux.
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written by Southern Man , June 24, 2009
Well, the governor is a Rhodes Scholar and not enough can be said about the Rhodes Legacy but I won't go into that. I'll just second what Allen said. It is a wonder we can trust anybody anymore. Actually, Allen, it is no wonder. We simply can not. We, the "grass roots' have to become much more involved in the election process some kind of legal way. I say investigate the ones in there now for their votes against the Constitution. They DID take an oath to it didn't they ? Well, their voting history will define them. Statesman ? Politician ? or Traitor? Either way we need to start holding them accountable.
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written by Allen Brasseaux , June 24, 2009
God have mercy on us, we can't trust any body any more.
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written by Myrick6 , June 24, 2009
Dear Governor, if you want to be president, make this state a great place and the rest of the country will believe you are capable. In the mean time, would you please do what you were elected to do - run this state - and NOT FROM OTHER STATES! Your disrespect for the people of the state you have sworn to lead is no shining example of what the country could look forward to with you as its leader.
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I have enjoyed your writing. And not to say that I agree or disagree with your take on Jindal, but I was hoping for some meat to the article. What you've put forth is a bunch of conclusions strung together with hopes they will make a point.
For instance, your line "[Jindal} will leave office â?⬢? whether he݃¢?̢?s a one-termer or wins a second term ƒ¢?̢? with a state in dire straits." If he gets a second term, then his leaving is six years away! SIX YEARS!! And yet the dye is cast? If you've got a crystal ball, then fine. But if you don't, I would love to hear more facts that lead to that conclusion. Why will education will be worse off? Why will healthcare continue to suffer? Why will the state continue to lose jobs? And what is Jindal doing or failing to do that causes this?
He leaves the state for fundraisers? Check. Got it. How again does that weave in? This argument reminds me of my very liberal friends who hated Bush and felt he could do no right. Then they also complained that he took more vacation than any other President. Ok. You don't like what he's doing but you want him there all the time? Am I missing something? I disgress.
This is little more than red meat for the people who hate Jindal. You are capable of far better and those readers who are looking for the facts would be far better served by your best. Or even your better.
All the best,
Soop