Bobby Jindal gave his rebuttal to the President tonight in what was widely being billed as his "coming out party" – unfortunately for him, his debut was extremely underwhelming.
Barack Obama is a hard man to follow, no doubt about it. Message aside, he is a gifted orator who is compelling and interesting to listen to on his worst days. Add in the backdrop of a Congressional speech, massive applause and the adulation of the network anchors and you obviously have a rather difficult task. But by all measures, Jindal failed, and he failed for a number of reasons.
He Chose Folksy Populism Over A Serious Address
Bobby Jindal is a Rhodes Scholar. Among the Republcians left in governmental leadership, he is unquestionably one of its more brilliant minds. He is a policy wonk, and seems extremely interested in policy details, often times rattling off his ideas so quickly his audience gets lost. Tonight was his chance to showcase that brainpower, and that factory of ideas.
What did we see instead? Jindal intentionally spoke with more simplistic, provocative language meant to appeal to rural (conservative) America. His accent seemed just a little bit thicker, and his rhetoric focused on what was upsetting voters, rather than why the Republican agenda is a better choice.
But worse, after Obama’s lofty appeals to big plans, and creative dreams, Jindal talked about… himself, and a Sherriff. Be still my heart.
Jindal knows that he will run for president someday, and he has a choice. He can present himself as the intelligent, wonkish conservative technocratic brain, or he can go for the down country, aw shucks, "real America" garbage. Tonight – it appears he has chosen the latter. While this may be acceptable for angry conservatives, for a country embracing the very "adult" attitude of Obama, this simply does not work.
And honestly, if Michelle Malkin is right and Jindal would have been beaten up by the media no matter what he did, than doesn’t it stand to reason he should just say "screw it" and show off how much of a brain he is? Honestly, with the perception that the GOP lacks any heavy hitting intellectuals, if there was ever a time to show off your "wonkishness", now was the time.
He Had A Chance To Counter The Idea Of "The Party Of No" – But Didn’t
Jindal primarly painted a picture of Democrats being wrong on things.
They spend too much money. They tolerate waste. They will have to raise your taxes. They believe in government over individuals.
Notice a trend? Me too – Democrats are wrong, and that is where the sentence ends.
Republicans need to do more than criticize what is wrong with the Democratic agenda. Not only is it irritating to the undecided voter to hear nothing but negativity, it also fails to offer the American people any hope or vision of what America would look like under your philosophy.
This is especially toxic after the Bush years, which have (unfairly) soured the reputation of a limited government agenda.
What is required is to briefly express disagreement, but then offer real solutions that are alternatives. This was something Jindal was uniquely positioned to do, being such an intelligent, wonkish Republican. But rather than a New Gingrich style "idea factory" speech – we got nothing but "no".
That may work when you playcate to your base, but after Obama’s lofty rhetoric it will not win any converts, and it only further entrenches the idea that the GOP is the party of no.
His Rhetoric Sounded Childish
I have seen it referred to multiple times as "Kenneth the Page" from 30 Rock. Personally I felt more like he was tucking in a child.
Everything from his tone of voice, to the vocabulary he used sounded dumbed down, and borderline childish.
You do not combat a highly intelligent, loqcuatious president by going after the lowest common denominator of the American voting public. "American’s can do ANYTHING!" is a wonderful sentiment, but it sounds more like something I would tell my two year old son as I read him a story book than a serious national address to the country.
I don’t know if Jindal intentionally talked to me like I was in pre-school or not, but I do know it irritated more than just me, and turned me off to anything he was saying. And I’m a Republican.
It Sounded Like A Campaign Commercial For Him
It sure was nice to hear the life story of Bobby Jindal – but it was hardly effective as a response to the president.
Barack Obama called for investment in education, transportation and infrastructure. He called upon Congress to cut the deficit in half in four years, and reform healthcare.
Bobby Jindal told me his mom got pregnant, then moved to America, and gave birth to him, setting in motion a great American story.
His story really is fascinating, but I think I’d like to wait until 2010 at least before I start getting this stuff beaten in my head. What was called for tonight was an alternative to the president’s agenda, not a personal appeal to Jindal-cult.
His Message Was Disjointed and Unclear
Do any of us really know anything new about Jindal, or the GOP agenda after hearing him speak? Do we even know what the thesis of his speech was? I recall some generic "big government is bad" comments, but overall I have already forgotten what he said.
He jumped around in his points, nothing he said was really flowing naturally from one point to another, and it sounded more like extemporanious thoughts in his head than anything else.
Conclusions
Bobby Jindal is one of the GOP’s "rising stars" – its hard to deny that. But he has already fallen into the trap that so many politicians in this party have fallen into over the last decade. He has become a black hole of ideas who came off as dedicated to little more than opposing the Democratic agenda out of some kind of Hatfield/McCoy type rivalry, and he did it by appealing to the lowest common denominators of both our society, and our culture.
Gone were the big ideas. Gone was the serious conversation about this country’s future. Gone was communicating like an adult.
Things like this are about political instincts. People like Barack Obama smell a vaccuum, realize what is missing in their own party, and then proceed to fill that vaccuum with the force of their personality.
Jindal had the chance to do that tonight, but did not.
He’ll have another chance, but the bar will be set even higher for him next time.