And by the time Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal -- young, popular, Indian-American and, in GOP fantasies, the perfect answer to Obama in 2012 -- took to the airwaves a few minutes after Obama finished, he must have wished he was on Bourbon Street trying to catch a few Mardi Gras beads instead. Jindal delivered his rebuttal speech so quickly he seemed to be trying to get out the door to catch a ride from Baton Rouge to New Orleans before Lent began. Chirpily titled "Americans Can Do Anything," it sounded like a missive from the Land of Private Enterprise, where President Amity Shlaes welcomes you by closing down the government as soon as you arrive. In Jindal's telling, Louisiana recovered from Hurricane Katrina thanks to volunteers and local businesses, not hundreds of billions of dollars in federal aid. "The strength of America is not found in our government," Jindal said, trying to blunt the power of Obama's recitation of all that government was attempting to do to turn the country around. "[Republicans] believe the way to strengthen our country is to restrain spending in Washington, and empower individuals and small businesses to grow our economy and create jobs."
It was a speech that only Kathryn Jean Lopez could truly love. The hour-long address that Jindal was answering was far more effective, and not just because Obama read his lines better than Jindal did, or because the well of the House of Representatives makes for a better backdrop than the lobby of the Louisiana governor's mansion. The country is just now waking up, woozy, after eight years of rolling back the government's safety nets, regulatory frameworks and just about everything else that doesn't involve foreign invasions. Hardly anyone wants to hear a call for more of the same; the network instapolls after the speech showed voters responded well to Obama's version of change. And, of course, they responded even better in November.
- excerpt from Mike Madden's article in the 2/25 edition of Salon.com
