Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal — a one-time Republican rising star now desperately seeking to become one again — announced Wednesday evening that he will run for president in 2016.
“We have a bunch of great talkers running for president,” Jindal said at the Pontchartrain Center here in this New Orleans suburb, as supporters waved “Geaux Bobby” signs. “We’ve had enough of talkers. It is time for a doer.”
The 44 year-old son of immigrants was the first Indian American to become a U.S. governor and, now, to become a serious presidential candidate. He sought to play up his long-shot status as a strength, casting himself as a man with nothing to lose, who owed nothing to the Republican establishment.
“I will do the things you cannot do in Washington,” he said. “I will say the things you cannot say.” . . .
When Jindal took the stage (to Garth Brooks’ “Callin’ Baton Rouge”) he said he would try to slash the size of the federal government, show strength to American enemies overseas, secure the U.S. border, and try to reform Medicare and Social Security.
Jindal also said — in a portion familiar from his pre-annnouncement stump speeches — that he would make sure new immigrants assimilated to U.S. culture to try to prevent enclaves of immigrants that reject American ways.
“I’m sick and tired of people dividing Americans,” he said. “And I am done with all this talk about hyphenated Americans. We are not Indian-Americans, Irish-Americans, African-Americans, rich Americans or poor Americans. We are all Americans.”
See also this for how smart he is, his ability to formulate policy, and his cause of promoting religious liberty. And how he is nevertheless a long-shot.
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