It warms my heart when a politician is willing to just go the whole hog and call ‘em as they see ‘em. Of course, I’m sure Gov. Jindal has his own motives in mind — he’s an oft-discussed attractive possibility for Romney’s running mate. The Jindal camp has been fairly careful about explicit interest in the vice presidency (I mean, nobody’s going to actually come out and say, “Yes, I am actively angling for the Veep slot” rather than staying focused on the job they have), but he hasn’t said that he wouldn’t do it, either. Speaking at CPAC Chicago on Friday, however, Jindal certainly had some fightin’ words for the Obama administration:
“I suspect that many in the Obama administration really don’t believe in private enterprise. At best, they see business as something to be endured so that that it can provide tax money for government programs,” said Jindal.
Responding to Obama’s statement that the private sector was “doing fine,” he added: “Mr. President, I’ve got a message for you: The private sector is not doing well when 23 million Americans are unemployed and underemployed in this great country. This president — the private sector is so foreign to him, he might need a passport to actually go visit, and he might need a translator to help him talk to folks in the private sector.” …
“Did he not go to Wisconsin because he was afraid of hurting himself by backing a loser?” Jindal wondered aloud. “He shrunk from this challenge. He elected to stay away from Wisconsin for fear of losing. That’s not what leaders do.”
And if feels so good. It annoys me to no end when President Obama uses economic terms like “investment” and “job creation,” because he really doesn’t understand what those terms mean. Maybe he thinks he does, as-viewed through the lens of a big-government agenda, but the federal government does not create productive jobs and should not be making investments that Americans won’t make on their own. The private sector should be doing these things, and the federal government can merely help or hinder this process — and under Obama, it’s been all hindrance, all the time.
Romney has often reverted to the “nice guy” line — President Obama has good intentions but is just woefully misguided in the execution, or something. Jindal is far from the first to make the Carter-Obama comparison, but I still like hearing it, and Jindal might be trying to show that he can be the ying to Romney’s yang and that he’s willing to go on the aggressive attack as a running mate. A few weeks back, I had a hearty chuckle when Jindal admonished that President Obama “never even ran a lemonade stand” — it’s just so painfully true.
Just a little dose of Veep-speculation to brighten your day!
