In Defense of Bobby Jindal
In Bobby Jindal’s defense:
Bobby Jindal’s performance is simply the latest in a long line of poor or lukewarm “Oppostion Responses” to the big Presidential “State of the Union” or “Before Joint Session of Congress” speech. It’s a long line of speeches that was only broken by Jim Webb’s speech from a couple of years’ ago, and in the Democratic tenure under Bush saw a couple “joint Democratic House and Senate” leader back and forths, and most notably for comparisons’ sake a lackadasical performance by supposed vice presidential and future presidential timber Kathleen Sebelius — who was thus roughly in that equivalent position that Bobby Jindal is now in.
Jim Webb was the exception that proved that these things don’t have to suck so many eggs, though there does not seem to have been any follow through. The commentary is rough here, my favorite line being that  “when future historians look back to spot where the nadir of Republican politics lay during this era, they will mark it as Bobby Jindal’s Response”. I also give it up to the Democratic (and currently Democratic leaning Independents) “viral” meme-makers for marking Jindal to “Kenneth from 30 Rock”. This new immediacy of pairing “to the national stage” politicos with comic portrayals, and two makes it a trend (ie: Sarah Palin — Tina Fey) — looks like a pretty potent weapon.
As for the substance of Bobby Jindal’s speech? That’s a stupid question — you know what I think.