More Elective Thoughts

Lots of little things in the news again, but nothing huge. Romney’s VP choice is being discussed extensively, as is Obama’s latest gaffe. A few “conservatives” are still trying to bring down Romney, and there’s more evidence Obama is doomed. Let’s roundup a few campaign thoughts, shall we?

● Thought No. 1. Village Grade Idiocy. Obama really is a fool. Check out this quote: “If you’ve got a business – you didn’t built that. Somebody else made that happen.” W.T.F.?? This is the kind of ignorance only a man who never created a single thing could possess.

When you start a business, you take your own risk. Unless you’ve got a crooked financier behind you (like a certain “first black President” and his worthless wife), then you take your own money and your own time and your own labor and you bring them all together to create something that you hope to sell. If you do it right, and there is a market for what you are offering, then your business grows. Soon you hire other people to help expand. But you need to manage them, and everything is still your risk, your money, and your time. Only a man who thinks there are 57 states could suggest otherwise.

This actually gives us insight into why he’s failed as president, because this is how he understands leadership. He thinks you sit your skinny ass in a big leather chair or hide on a golf course as other people make things happen. That’s why ObamaCare became a cluster fudge, why he didn’t get card check or cap and trade, why financial regulation became such a mess, and why he can’t get any budget deals. Pathetic.

● Thought No. 2. Just Shut Up Already. I’m really sick of “conservatives” attacking Romney and offering retarded advice. Charles Krauthammer wants Obama to issue an apology for RomneyCare so Obama finally has something to attack. HotAir does too. Bill Kristol is demanding that Romney release his tax returns because that's what Obama wants. This needs to stop. How about these people go after Obama instead of Romney?

Interestingly, of all the clowns in the circus, Donald Trump had the best take on the tax issue. He said that Romney should agree to release his taxes only when Obama agrees to release his college applications and records. Yes! He then said, “I'll tell you what — the Republicans have to get a lot tougher. They have to get down and dirty also, because that's what's happening to them.” I never thought I’d agree with Trump, but this is absolutely right. It’s time that guys like Kristol learn that you can't win by crawling on your stomach to meet the politicized demands of your opponents.

● Thought No. 3. VP-arama. Romney is supposedly getting close to naming his choice for VP. I don’t think he can hurt himself with any of the names mentioned so far, but he can waste an opportunity if he picks the wrong person. I’ve said it before that I think he need a minority to send a clear message that the Republican Party has changed. In that regard, the short list includes Rubio, Jindal and Rice. I would prefer Rubio or Jindal to Rice, but I’d take Rice too. Also on the list apparently are Ryan and Pawlenty. I respect both men greatly, but picking either would probably make the ticket easy to lampoon as Dull and Duller. Both would be excellent once in office, however.

I would prefer Rubio (Allen West actually), but my money is now on Kelly Ayotte. She represents New Hampshire in the Senate and was previously the state’s Attorney General. She’s strongly conservative across the board. I’ll profile her if she’s chosen.

Whoever he chooses, it’s worth pointing out just how great Romney’s search has been. Rather than do the usual thing of trying to get a couple weeks of national exposure by dropping names, Romney has spent months now going from state to state, being seen each week with a possible candidate from that state. In the process, he’s generated buzz at the state level in key states (for himself and the local Republicans), and he’s used this as a way to deflect all of Obama’s attacks by each time suggesting he was getting close to making his choice. It’s been brilliantly done. Let’s hope his choice is as brilliant.

● Thought No. 4. The Bain of Obama’s Existence. I was a little confused this week when Romney strategist Ed Gillespie suggested that Obama’s attacks on Bain Capital were working. This clearly is not the case. For one thing, there’s nothing to attack. Bain bought and sold businesses, big deal. That hasn’t been controversial since the 1980s. For another, once you say the word “finance” people’s eyes glaze over. For yet another, Obama’s attacks have been esoteric, “lost in the weeds” attacks. Indeed, does it matter to any voter exactly what level of control Romney had as Chairman? Hardly. And if you want proof, look at the number of MSM types who have NOT dug into Bain. They know no one cares.

So why suggest these attacks are working, especially as there’s no evidence Romney is working to counter them? The answer is simple: Team Obama doesn’t seem to realize they’re beating a dead horse, and this was an attempt to make them think they were on to something so they would continue with this useless attack. Nice.

● Thought No. 5. Money Troubles. Obama made news last week by whining that Big Bad Romney has so much more money than poor little Red Obama. Interestingly, that’s not actually true. Since this election cycle began, Romney and the RNC have taken in about $425 million all told. Obama and the DNC have taken in $550 million.

So why the whining? Because in the past few months, Romney has blown Obama away. In June, Romney took in about $106 million compared to Obama’s $71 million. In May, Romney raised $77 million compared to $60 million for Obama. And apparently, Romney is now getting increasingly bigger checks as GOP whales are starting to give. Obama, meanwhile, isn’t. Obama is worried by the trend and acted desperately.

● Thought No. 6. DOOMED!! Finally, we have more evidence that Obama is doomed. One of the key demographics Obama need is young people. They are the one group he carries overwhelmingly and he needs them to make up for all the oldsters who will be turning out to toss him out. But the news isn’t good for Obama on the youth front. Gallup tracks enthusiasm by age group. In 2004, young people (age 18-29) turned out at 6% below the national average. In 2008, contrary to popular belief, they turned out 7% below the national average. If what they told Gallup is to be believed, they will turn out 20% below the national average in 2012!!! At the same time, old people who turned out 1% below average and 2% below average in 2004 and 2008, intend to turn out 7% above average in 2012. That’s the group that hates Obama the most. All of this will crush Obama and suggests that we are looking at a blow out.

Thoughts?

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Lousyana Teachers Protest Reform

My favorite governor, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, has been cleaning up his state for several years now, cutting costs and making the entire government more efficient. His early training as a management consultant has served the public well as he applied his methods to the government. He brought Louisiana out of the dark ages in medical coverage and instituted severe ethical reforms.

Now, Governor Jindal is being attacked by union and public school teachers who fear his education reforms.

Today, the state’s education committee will act on Jindal’s proposed reforms. He has taken on all the public school teachers’ favorite perks and privileges. The unions don’t like that. His proposal includes a complete revamping of the tenure program (a redundancy in union schools), enhanced monetary compensation based on performance rather than longevity, and expansion of school choice and voucher programs. He also included some tinkering around the edges of pensions, having already made a substantial change in them through an omnibus reform bill which encompassed all government employees, teachers included.

Jindal's own extensive educational accomplishments aside, the teachers cannot validly claim that he “doesn’t understand education and teachers.” One of his major reform positions in government was in the field of education. At age 28, he was appointed president of the University of Louisiana system, the sixteenth largest such system in the United States. During his tenure, formerly skyrocketing tuition fees were stabilized, duplication of effort was cut back, topheavy administration was slashed, instructor hiring was modified in order to include objective standards beyond mere diplomas, and academic standing increased dramatically.

He now proposes to institute the same reforms for elementary and secondary education. Louisiana resembles a great many other states in that huge numbers of teachers are overpaid, underworked, and often unqualified to teach much of anything. But since they are being paid for their terrible performance, the least they could do is show up for school and make a half-hearted attempt at pretending to teach.

Instead, teachers throughout the state, and particularly union members have convinced weak-spined school administrations to cancel classes so that the “teachers” can go to Baton Rouge to protest the proposed changes. This essentially means that public employees are being converted into temporary lobbyists to advance their own miserable cause while stealing time from the students and taxpayers.

How well have they done their jobs as teachers? On national standards, one-third of Louisiana public schools scored below grade-level. Nearly half of public schools in Louisiana scored a D or F even using National Education Association standards. 4th and 8th graders were in the bottom 15% of American students in math and English. Still, these space-wasters are unable to comprehend that they are lucky to have any job at all, let alone one with a near-guarantee of a job for life and disproportionately high pay and benefits for no discernible accomplishment.

Jindal’s education spokesman Aaron Baer said the following: “When one-third of all students are below grade level, the last thing public school employees should be doing is using class time to lobby the state legislature to prevent much-needed reforms. But instead they are joining the education unions who are descending upon Baton Rouge in full force.”

Although I agree with Baer, I also have the horrible thought that the only thing worse than these useless public school teachers being away from their classes is their being in their classes, filling those young minds with lots of nonsense and very little education. I will add that I do indeed know there are some very fine public school teachers, perhaps even many such. But they do not comprise even a strong minority. Jindal’s proposed reforms are being offered precisely to protect and reward those good teachers and to cease rewarding all those bad ones.
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You're Not The Boss Of Me

In some ways, I guess I’ve enjoyed the spectacle of a pseudo-intellectual, gussied-up, pretentious Chicago politician trying to pass himself off as a sophisticated man for all seasons. The man is flawless, incapable of making a mistake. He has even managed to convince a large segment of the American public that he is unflappable and tolerant of criticism. He proved otherwise this past Wednesday in Arizona.

On that day, the sweet-tempered, the ever-smiling president landed in Arizona and exposed himself for the ill-tempered and thin-skinned creature he really is. He was greeted by the Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, who is not known as being a fan of The One. In fact, the confrontation turned into an Obama review of Brewer’s book Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media, and Cynical Politicos to Secure America’s Borders. The governor was there in her official capacity as state greeter, but she was also there to plead with the president for more border security.

Unfortunately for Brewer, Obama knew that she had written some unkind words about He Who Cannot Be Criticized. The conversation, largely out of earshot of the public and press and beneath the wings of Air Force One, was obviously heated, complete with some very visible finger-wagging on both sides. After a short exchange, the president turned his back on the governor and stormed off like a child who lost a playground match and grabbed his marbles and left.

Before he was able to get to a refreshed TelePrompter, Obama let it be known that the governor had not “treated him cordially.” Well, you have to admit, she forgot to kiss his ring as they approached each other. It was obvious that he knows that he is King of America and she is merely a provincial governor. One does not lecture the king of kings, nor write a memoir that does not sing his praises.

The governor says that before she could start a conversation, Obama stated that he was disturbed about her book. She never got to make the case for more border security. She asked him if he had read the book, but after responding that he had read “an excerpt” and stating categorically that she had committed lese majeste, he walked away from her while she was still in mid-sentence attempting to respond.

So what did the mainstream media pick up on? Pictures of Brewer’s “disrespectful finger-pointing.” The best they could say is that if she didn’t respect the man, she should at least respect the office. Well, the man has sullied the office, so I think she can be at least partially forgiven if she didn’t do proper obeisance. She is an independently-elected leader of a sovereign state, equally deserving respect which he did not grant her. Governors are servants of the people of their states, not subordinates of the emperor. If she had given him the finger instead of pointing one at him, he might have been justified in feeling he had not gotten due respect for his office.

Governors are heads of state as much as the president, and they are not in the military where his position as commander-in-chief might make the man/office mantra appropriate. The governor was there as head of her government to seek help in stopping the massive flow of illegal immigration, crime, and drug importing on the border between Mexico and Arizona. The president was there to campaign for re-election and to ignore his administration’s Mexico-US gun-running operation. Which deserves more respect?

This kind of regal displeasure treatment of his “inferiors” is getting to be a habit with Obama. After being greeted by Governor Rick Perry of Texas, Obama stormed off within less than half a minute when Perry raised the issue of border security. He fumed and fretted publicly after Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana dared to write the president a letter asking for some genuine work instead of talk during the Gulf oil spill disaster. He actually called Jindal a “whiner” for asking for emergency food programs while the residents of the gulf recovered.

Obama is completely incapable of understanding federalism. He sees the states as branches of the national government and governors as his lieutenants. Any word of disagreement by one of those lieutenants must be treated as disrespect for the glorious leader and rank insubordination. Well, this god has feet of clay and this emperor has no clothes (how’s that for mixing my metaphors?). Obama deserves the title of King of Cool about as much as Rosie O’Donnell deserved the title of Queen of Nice.

Update Well, I suppose this was inevitable. Now Al Sharpton, the NAACP, Joe Madison, MSNBC and a raft of left wing talk-show hosts have declared that Brewer's actions were not only disrespectful, but racist. One says that Brewer's actions were the natural fear that white women have of black men. The rest are absolutely convinced that Brewer would never had behaved this way if the president were white. One black contributor on Fox News says that she doesn't believe Brewer is a racist, but her actions are typical of white behavior toward blacks. "Typical white woman" anyone?

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The One That Got Away

Shown are President Bobby Jindal and his lovely wife entering the White House for his inaugural ball in 2013. I can fantasize, can't I? Louisiana Governor Jindal has made it clear that he has no intention of running for the office during this election cycle, and I'm more than a little disappointed. We don't do endorsements in primary elections, but I can still extol his virtues for future reference since he simply isn't going to run this time.

Jindal's stunning reelection victory this past weekend in Louisiana created a lot of buzz in the blogosphere, including but not limited to The American Spectator and National Review. He won with a two-thirds vote in an all-party election in which he faced nine opponents. In other words, he got twice as many votes as all his opponents combined. He also won in a state which was previously heavily Democratic, and which he has helped to convert to a substantially Republican state.

So I'm going to play a little fantasy politics and tell you why I thought Jindal was the ideal candidate to beat Obama. Simply put, he steals all of those things that got Obama elected, but with the addition of real accomplishment and a genuinely conservative political point of view. The superfluous things that worked for Obama work for Jindal. He is young. He is dynamic. He's a riveting public speaker (forget that terrible response to the State of the Union address he gave two years ago). He obviously appeals to a broad spectrum of voters, including both wealthy and poor whites. Louisiana is not a microcosm of America, but the recent election certainly indicated he is a candidate who can appeal to a growingly multi-ethnic America in states that not long ago still had Jim Crow laws.

Obama would not be able to use his semi-subtle racism against Jindal, because Jindal "doesn't look like other Presidents" either. At the same time, Jindal has never used race or ethnicity to advance his cause. He truly would be a post-racial President. Older voters like myself can simply like him for all the things he is and has done, but younger voters are much more in tune with multiculturalism. Obama says "celebrate diversity." Jindal says "respect diversity, support unity." Jindal is as American as apple pie curry.

Obama constantly spoke about his education. Jindal rarely does. But the leftist intellectual elite constantly brought the subject up in the Obama/McCain election. That wouldn't happen in a Jindal/Obama matchup. Let's take a quick look. Obama attended Occidental College (definitely), Columbia University (allegedly), and moved on to become the editor of the Harvard Law Review without ever having written a single scholarly article for the Review himself. His records are sealed, and nobody seems to remember him at either Columbia or Harvard Law.

Jindal, the son of Indian immigrants, was born Piyush Jindal in Baton Rouge, but chose to be called "Bobby" from an early age. His brilliance showed early. He graduated from Baton Rouge Magnet School (for really smart kids). But he wasn't all brains. He was an accomplished tennis player. In his "spare time" he started a computer newsletter, a retail candy business, and a mail order software business. He never had a job as a community organizer. He was too busy gaining both real life experience, an understanding of business, and a remarkable education which is all public record. No sealed academic records here.

Jindal was one of fifty high school students nationally to be chosen for a special pre-medical honors program at elite Ivy League Brown University. He graduated, with honors, in two majors--public policy and biology. As a standout scholar, he was recruited by both Harvard Medical School and Yale Law School, with full scholarships to both. Instead, he chose to attend Oxford University, where he received a master's degree in political science with an emphasis in health policy. He received an award at Oxford for a thesis on "needs-based health care." He turned down a PhD scholarship program at Oxford, deciding it was time to return to the United States and get a job as a political and public health consultant with the firm of McKinsey and Company.

I think we know who would end up with the mucky end of the stick in an "I'm smarter than you" contest with the pseudo-intellectual and questionably-credentialed Obama. But early on, Jindal realized that the academic credentials were all well and good, but if he didn't want to be a college professor, it was time to get out into the real world. At age 25, Jindal was tapped by Louisiana Governor Mike Foster to be the head of Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals. Combining his academic credentials with a practical sense of how public money ought to be spent, Jindal spent three years at the job. When he came into the job, Louisiana DHH was experiencing a $400 million dollar deficit with Medicaid and bankruptcy. At the end of his watch, that same department had a $220 million dollar surplus.

Jindal went on to many more achievements, using government to promote and bolster private investment and innovation before being elected America's first Indian-American governor. In the deep South, no less. As a Congressman, he had earned rave reviews, even from Democrats, for his involvement in private enterprise solutions to the Katrina disaster. He rolled up his sleeves as governor, and personally oversaw the relief efforts after hurricane Gustav, and took on Obama for the President's failure to do anything more than talk about the BP oil spill. He had proposed works projects which may have prevented much of the spill from arriving on Louisiana shores, but got zero cooperation from the federal government.

Compare Jindal's Louisiana to Obama's DC. Lately, it seems like a scandal erupts two or three times a week on Obama's watch. He uses back door politics and Chicago-style thuggery to get his way. His Justice Department is a politicized, racialized mess, and his Attorney General is apparently complicit in the sneaky Fast and Furious operation which turned deadly. Louisiana, on the other hand, had been one of the crookedest states in the union, with its most famous demagogue Huey P. Long planning to run for President. Jindal himself has never been touched by personal or political scandal, and his administration cleaned up the state house and the legislature with new and seriously-enforced ethics rules.

Jindal has a fine way of being very conservative, but without appearing to be overly-partisan. He seems to be able to whip Democrats into line without making grandstand headlines about how he conquered the "enemy." He defeats recalcitrant legislators by persuasion and savvy political maneuvering. He appears boyish while possessing the political acumen of a very experienced old pol.

On top of it all, Jindal can deride Obamacare from both the intellectual and practical high ground. His experience with Louisiana's DHH and his position as Bill Clinton's Medicare commission chairman give him bipartisan credentials as the man who could come up with a genuine solution for the medically uninsured without the dangerous economic consequences of Obamacare. He favors interstate contracts and portable insurance from state to state while opening the market to private insurers across state lines. As Quinn Hillyer said in his American Spectator article, "he can explain 'premium support' and market solutions better than anyone in the business, especially in a debate, where--unlike a formal speech setting (remember the State of the Union response)--Jindal absolutely sparkles." Jindal is a true policy wonk without sounding the least bit wonkish.

Jindal has proven himself to be an economic conservative cost-cutter and efficiency-increaser. He also has solid social conservative views, but doesn't spend valuable time beating opponents over the head with the Bible. Again, he persuades and maneuvers rather than making a donnybrook out of the issues. But he knows that the economy will be the true issue for his state and the national government at election time. The libertarian/conservative CATO Institute gave Jindal an "A" on fiscal policy, citing the increase in efficient Louisiana public services while cutting state spending by 26%. He has bent on a few interim special taxes in order to bring legislators into his fold, but his basic philosophy is to reduce taxes, increase efficiency, cut spending. He has succeeded at all three.

Before the current candidates announced their intentions to run, I had visions of Jindal wiping the floor with Obama in debates on the economy, statism, and rabid egalitarianism. I won't get that chance now. Jindal has declared in no uncertain terms that he will not seek the presidency in 2012. To prove his steadfastness in avoiding the nomination, he has endorsed fellow Governor Rick Perry. I'll keep my own counsel on that choice, but I would rather have seen Jindal do it for himself and all of us. Maybe next time.
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A Tale Of Two Executives

Yesterday, I discussed Barack Obama, who isn't really an executive, but he plays one on TV. Today, given the Gulf spill, I want to talk about a real executive--Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana. Tapped to deliver the Republican response to Obama's first State of the Union address, Jindal gave a less than inspired performance.

I predicted that given his bona fides and drive to succeed rather than to win, Jindal would recover and go on to a notable career in government. The past few weeks have proven me right. While Obama was speechifying, Jindal was acting. While Obama was golfing, Jindal was working. While Obama was glorifying the efficiency of the federal government, Jindal was organizing and putting real people on the front lines of the disaster. While Obama was golfing, Jindal was working into the wee hours. While Obama was golfing, Jindal was rolling up his sleeves and helping his fellow citizens. While Obama was golfing, well, you get the idea.

Many Republicans gave up on Jindal far too easily after the State of the Union debacle, and the Democrats counted him down and out. Both forget that Bill Clinton first burst on the national scene by giving one of the lengthiest, one of the worst, and one of the least remembered keynote addresses in the entire history of the Democratic Party. Since that ho-hum performance, Jindal has gone on to be one of the most successful state chief executives in Louisiana history. He knows when to fight, and he knows when a losing battle is just a losing battle. But the reaction to the Gulf oil spill has been a dramatic contrast between the empty suit in the White House and the dynamo in the Louisiana state house.

Louisiana politics were a Democratic-controlled showplace of hopeless incompetence and corruption even before Katrina exposed the cancer. The Democratic mayor of New Orleans ignored Bush administration warnings about the lack of preparedness for a serious hurricane, and when Katrina hit, he had totally failed to activate local resources in advance of the floods. Afterwards, he made Obama-like speeches while waiting for the feds to bail him out, all the while blaming Bush for his own failures. The Democratic governor agonized, whined and cried like a baby when Katrina hit, but was so busy boo-hooing that she neglected to declare the state of emergency which would have allowed the Bush administration to act in accord with the Constitution.

In total contrast, when the Gulf spill first occurred, Jindal mobilized his emergency management team, got all his state resources in place at the sites of the coming oil slick, and at the very first opportunity declared an emergency that would allow the federal government to act without an unconstitutional invasion of a sovereign state.

Prior to the BP spill but after Katrina, and unlike the former New Orleans mayor and former Louisiana governor, Jindal was able to get the recovery in New Orleans moving, requesting federal assistance only in those areas where state resources were already exhausted or unavailable. In the wake of the economic crash, he pulled Louisiana unemployment below the national average, even though Louisiana under Democratic governments had for decades been well above the national average even during boom times.

Jindal used his power and considerable intelligence to build Louisiana's energy-production sector. That was a major part of Louisiana's economic recovery which was occurring faster than in most other states. And oil was a major part of that recovery. In reaction to the Gulf spill, Jindal garnered his resources and prepared to fend off the encroaching oil. Oil doesn't kill economies, people kill economies. Obama and his gang of econuts and socialists saw things differently. So they imposed a moratorium on all Gulf oil production while they figured out how to make sure only America was permanently prevented from drilling in deep Gulf waters. Jindal worked for less dependence on foreign oil, Obama worked to assure nearly total reliance on foreign oil while his administration of Harry Potters wave their wands to create viable solar and wind energy sources.

If Jindal had shown the same fire and brimstone in his State of the Union reply as he did in attacking the moratorium, he might very well have become the Republican front-runner for President in 2012. But as Ecclesiastes tells us, there's a time and a season for everything. This is quickly becoming Jindal's time and season. While Obama and his Keystone Kops experts dithered, Jindal had early on proposed to dredge around the barrier islands and create berms to keep the spill from coming ashore. Many petro-engineers believe the plan might have worked, but even if it were only partially successful, it's better than anything the Obamists came up with. The problem was that Louisiana doesn't have enough machinery and manpower to mount such an effort on its own. The federal government did, but refused to consider the plan.

In actuality, Jindal had to fight to get the Obama administration to allow him to use state workers and equipment in waters beyond Louisiana jurisdiction. By the time permission was granted, it was too late. The oil was already washing up on Louisiana's coast. But at least Jindal had people on the beaches ready to do whatever could be done to minimize the damage. Meanwhile, Jindal had gone to court to stop the bureaucratic imposition of a moratorium which would deeply wound Louisiana's economy already being damaged by the oil coming ashore. He won, but the Obamists did an end-run and imposed a moratorium anyway.

Jindal addressed his troops (real and metaphorical): "We don't have time for meetings. We don't have time for red tape and bureaucracy. We're literally in a war to save our coast. Every hour matters. Every day matters." It was downright Churchillian. Later, Jindal attended a rally of support for Gulf oil workers now put out of work by the moratorium, and spoke boldly at the rally. "I want to send a clear message to Washington, DC. Our people don't want a BP check, our people don't want an unemployment check, our people want this arbitrary moratorium to end so they can get back to work." Well, there's a novel concept. Working instead of waiting for handouts from the government and money damages from a corporation. It sounds to me a lot like throwing down the gauntlet.

While Obama alternates between vacations and his permanent campaign, Jindal concentrates on doing the very best job he can in his current position and giving little thought to the next election or the one after that. Jindal is a powerful intellect, with real, public and provable academic credentials that make Obama look like he went to a rural junior college. He wasn't much more than a kid when he was given major executive responsibilities. At age 25, Jindal was made the head of Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals. He took a bankrupt, incompetent and even dangerous medical service and turned it into an efficient and modern health care system. At age 28, after successfully putting together a profitable plan for Louisiana's use of federal tobacco settlement funds, Jindal was appointed the youngest-ever president of the University of Louisiana system. Academic performance at the University increased dramatically.

In 2000, Jindal was appointed by President George Bush to be the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation, and he was unanimously confirmed by the US Senate in 2001. By age 30, Jindal already had three times the executive experience that Obama has today. And that doesn't include his current service as governor.

The difference in executive experience and understanding of the requirements of the job show up like a neon sign on Broadway. The BP spill put their names up in lights. Jindal jumped in, ordered, delegated, and acted quickly and efficiently in regard to the Gulf. Obama proved he is OK at golf.
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The Weekly Bidenism Obamaism

This week, Lying Joe Biden's been busy plying his craft in Louisiana, where he lied about the number of jobs created in the state -- "in Louisiana there’s 400 people a day losing their jobs". . . Louisiana was the only state to see job growth last month in Obama's economic wasteland -- and he blamed those Biden-fabricated job losses on Governor "Jin-dell": "Governor Jindell. . . what’s he doing?" That's "Jindal." Still, we should excuse Joe because "Jindell" is as close to "Jindal" as we can expect from a man who hates Indians, and truth is hardly Joe’s strong suit. So let’s talk about Obama instead on today’s very special The Weekly Bidenism. . .

Obama. What can we say about Obama? According to the left, their lord and savior Obama is the smartest man to ever occupy the White House. If that’s true, then it’s time we burned the place to the ground. But I don't think it's true, so hold those torches.

For example, smart people generally don’t have problems remembering key details about their lives. Obama does. Like when he forget his own religion during a September 2008 interview with ABC news:

"What I was suggesting -- you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith . . ."

Of course, it’s hard to blame Obama for not knowing much about his faith as he apparently never listened to a word his Pastor Jeremiah Wright said. . . at least, he didn’t listen to Wright’s repeated anti-American or anti-Semitic comments. Otherwise, he assures us, he "wouldn't have felt as comfortable staying at the church." So maybe that's not proof of anything.

But then he did forget on July 23, 2008 that he wasn’t on the Senate Banking Committee:

"Just this past week, we passed out of the out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee -- which is my committee -- a bill to call for divestment from Iran as way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don't obtain a nuclear weapon."

Most people remember where they work. He also forgot the details of how he met his wife, claiming to meet her “in class” when she had already graduated before he even arrived. Hmm.

But we want to be fair. So while maybe he can't remember big, unforgettable details about his private life, we must admit that he's shown himself to be a master of detail in other areas. . . except for the time he did slightly over-estimate the number of people killed by a tornado in Kansas:

"In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died -- an entire town destroyed."

In reality, twelve people were killed. And, I guess, everyone’s heard his claim about having visited “57 states -- I think one left to go.” But, in his defense, knowing how many states there are isn't one of those things they teach you. Just like nobody knows what they speak in Austria:

"It was also interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate. There's a lot of -- I don't know what the term is in Austrian, wheeling and dealing."

Actually, it’s called “German” genius. . . deutsch for the initiated. You know, this has shades of Dan Quayle’s famous comment about brushing up on his Latin before heading to Latin America, and we all know how stupid the left claimed that made him! Maybe they’re long lost brothers?

At least Obama makes up for his lack of knowledge about facts with his sensitivity, with his compassion, with he knowing how to say the right things at the right time. For example, who can forget his first speech after the Fort Hood terrorism attack. After spending several minutes playing around with the assembled press, he gave a special “shout out”:

"I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow was around, and so I wanted to give a shout out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner."

Of course, Dr. Medicine Crow is not a Medal of Honor recipient, and it probably wasn’t a good idea to start a press conference right after a national tragedy by acting like a clown before discussing the murder of American troops. "Hooo hoo hey kids! Guess what happened today! Honk honk."

Ok, so maybe he's not that sensitive, but he can be suave, like when he told a female reporter from ABC’s Detroit affiliate: “Hold on one second, sweetie, we're going to do -- we'll do a press avail.” Or when he angrily told a reporter who asked him a foreign policy question during a visit to a diner in Pennsylvania: “Why can't I just eat my waffle?”

Hmmm. Now that I think about it, he did slander his own grandmother. . . not to mention "typical whites":

"The point I was making was not that Grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't. But she is a typical white person, who, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know, you know, there's a reaction that's been bred in our experiences that don't go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way, and that's just the nature of race in our society."

And he did call out his kid for her bad grades. . . “teachable moment”? Yes, but what lesson Mr. President? Of course, he slandered middle America too:

"It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

He also slandered Nancy Reagan at his first press conference:

"I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about doing any séances."

But at least he never made fun of the Special Olympics. . . at least until he appeared on The Tonight Show in March 2009:

"No, no. I have been practicing. . . I bowled a 129. It's like -- it was like Special Olympics, or something."

But he has always been a gentleman to Hillary, like when he told her: "You're likeable enough, Hillary." I understand she swooned upon hearing that.

Hmm. Maybe he’s not as “articulate and bright and clean” as some people think? Maybe he’s not a “storybook” after all? Or maybe he’s just not the story some people thought? Cinderfella. . . no, The Pied Piper. . . perhaps.

In any event, we leave you with this interesting revelation. . . something you didn’t know about your President. . . he can see dead people:

"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today -- our sense of patriotism is particularly strong."

Good grief.

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