Hope!

GOP Rising Star Puts it to the Dems

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, the 37 year-old rising GOP star, who was among the first governors to turn down "stimulus" funding targeted for his state, gave the Republican response to President Obama's marathon speech to Congress last night. In doing so, he drew contrasts in basic principles with the new President and may have given the nation a preview of the 2012 general election fight. Jindal pointedly noted that the Democrats put their faith in the federal government to solve the nation's woes, whereas he advocates putting faith the the people.

In his response from the governor's mansion in Baton Rouge, Jindal defended the virtues of small government that he said even his own party had abandoned in recent years.

"Instead of trusting us to make decisions with our own money, they passed the largest government spending bill in history with a price tag of more than $1 trillion with interest," he said of Democrats. "Democratic leaders say their legislation will grow the economy. What it will do is grow the government, increase our taxes down the line and saddle future generations with debt."

Speaking of Obama, Jindal said that "we appreciate his message of hope, but sometimes it seems like we look for hope in different places. Democratic leaders in Washington, they place their hope in the federal government. We place our hope in you, the American people."

And in response to the President's remark earlier this month that without immediate action on the economy, "our nation will sink into a crisis that, at some point, we may be unable to reverse," Jindal retorted: "A few weeks ago, the president warned that our country is facing a crisis that he said we may not be able to reverse," Jindal said. "Our troubles are real, to be sure. But don't let anyone tell you that we cannot recover. Don't let anyone tell you that America 's best days are behind her."

The first Indian American elected governor is a Baton Rouge native and the son of immigrants, and he used the response to tell some of his story: "Like the president's father, my own parents came to this country from a distant land," Jindal said. "When they arrived in Baton Rouge, my mother was already four and half months pregnant. . . . To find work, my dad picked up the yellow pages and started calling local businesses. Even after landing a job, he could still not afford to pay for my delivery, so he worked out an installment plan with the doctor. Fortunately for me, he never missed a payment."

So much for any bipartisan desire for nationalized health insurance.

The full transcript of the Governor's speech can be found here.