Jindal's Speech

Tonight, I have been watching Barack Obama's speech and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's Republican rebuttal.

It has only been a short time since Jindal gave his response, and I haven't had much time to digest what he said. So my words may seem a bit off the cuff.

But my initial reaction is that he had little to offer in the way of an alternative. The nation faces the most severe crisis of my lifetime, and Republicans, who have now been rejected by the voters in the last two elections, cannot win the trust of the American people by simply saying "No!" to Democratic proposals.

And that, it seems to me, is what Jindal did tonight.

I will admit that Jindal is a talented young man who has a bright future in his party. And he was right to observe that all Americans, Republicans as well as Democrats, take pride in the progress America has made by electing its first black president.

But, while that president was making his case for the government's expanded role in the nation's efforts to recover from the financial crisis, Jindal's position, essentially, was that the Republicans have deviated from the Goldwater/Reagan path that brought so much electoral success in the last three decades.

He ignored the fact that the conservative philosophy has been largely discredited, that deregulation and tax cuts have failed to produce the desired effects. Americans today are angry — and justifiably so — at the big bankers and Wall Street — and unregulated companies that played fast and loose with public health in the preparation of food products while greedily pursuing profits — and they have little tolerance for those who promote the policies that got us into this mess.

He doesn't believe government should get involved as much as it is with the stimulus package. Well, if that's what he believes, that's fine. But what is his alternative? The times call for bold action, but all that Jindal offers is more of the same.

It's fine for Jindal to assert that America will overcome this crisis. Obama did the same thing. And such an assertion is necessary for Americans who have lost their jobs and/or their homes to regain their confidence. But more is needed. Obama provided that in his speech. Jindal did not.

Tonight was not Governor No's finest hour. And it underscores why the country opted to take a new direction last November.