Bobby Jindal! Does this name ring any bells to you? If not, you need to get out of your clandestine enclosure and get your shit together. Jindal is the Catholic converted son of Hindu parents who emigrated from Punjab to the USA to pursue their careers in the field of IT. He had intellectual credentials (Rhodes Scholar), business expertise (consultant at McKinsey’s) and also policy expertise in two critical areas – healthcare and education.
Mr. Jindal, the republican governor from Louisiana, announced that he is running for President on 24 June, 2015. But let the truth be out! Jindal is treading water with his run for the Presidentship. His nomination depends on his courtship of the Evangelical voters and his reputation as a man of ideas. As many would put it, his lust for power has eclipsed his prudence. Louisiana has earned some dubious honours under him and he is known to have wrecked it inside-out.
I now present to you three reasons why our very own Bobby ji stands no chance of walking in Obama’s shoes!
- Bygone Ethnicity and Views: He brought to the Republican party the much needed diverse appeal being a non-white politician. His Catholic conversion can be attributed to the compromise which was much needed for American electoral success.
After his failure in the run for Governor, the first time, which many blame on his ethnicity, he has avoided every aspect of his Indian-American roots except for the money garnered from this community. Wooing and banking on the influential Evangelical Christian vote, he is trying to suppress anything that goes against it.
He has vehemently opposed the Supreme Court ruling of providing equal rights to the LGBT community and has gone as far as speaking that the Supreme Court should be abolished.
- Faith over Science: His early academic achievements speak volume about his success in the field of biology and health policy. But as the Governor of Louisiana, he has undermined scientific progress in significant ways. He has gone out of his way to win over the Evangelicals who hate Darwinian biology and are suspicious of science in general.
He has delegated the teachers to “approach” biology from the perspective of faith instead of science. Many, including his old teachers, have reportedly been furious with him over this and have asked scientific conferences to boycott the state.
- Bad with Numbers: He has brought to his home state a budget deficit to the tune of $1.6 billion.
Under his regime since the year 2008, Louisiana has witnessed the maximum number of tax cuts bringing down the revenue of the Pelican State.
His administration has slashed millions from the budget of STD prevention and the gender pay ratio is the largest in this state.
These arbitrary numbers do not reflect very beautifully for a person aiming for the White House.
As evident, he has lost his power to reason and has been blinded by his political ambitions.
The charisma he once owned is far gone. Perhaps he is calculating on retrieving it after his winning, but this obvious hypocrisy is not to the liking of the voters and is showing in his tanking numbers.
And yeah, when you have candidates of the like of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and former Tex. Gov. Rick Perry who are better known, Jindal with all his wrongdoings seems like a puny man.
Image credits: Google Images
