Or more relevant to Jindal, Clinton’s famously bad 1985 SOTU response, for that matter. But obviously neither of those things actually killed off Clinton. I imagine Jindal could’ve similarly bounced back from his bad speech if he’d done a better job as governor. Or that he’d still be screwed now even if he’d given an awesome speech, if he’d still acted the same way otherwise.
Honestly, I’m not sure why anyone agrees to give the SOTU response speech. Jindal and Clinton’s were worse than most, but they’re almost always bad. Having to follow up the Prez giving a rousing speech with all the pomp and ceremony of a joint session of Congress with what amounts to one guy in front of a camera whining about what the Prez just said is doomed to come off poorly.
I think Jim Webb is the only person I can remember doing well with it. And of course, even there, now that he’s running for President, no one mentions or remembers his Response speech. So as career maker/breakers go, I don’t think these are particularly important.
Was Jindal the one whose entrance to give the SotU response made Rachel Maddow say something like “Oh, God” on live TV? Also, I think the same week that he mocked volcano monitoring in that response there was a decent eruption in Alaska.
It’s not pointless, but it is a bad sign for a candidate if they can’t carry their own state. Here’s a list of presidential candidates who lost their state(either birth or resident state). There are a few winning candidates, and a lot of losing ones on that list.
Also, Gore won 47% of the vote in Tennessee, very similar to Bill Clinton winning 48% in 1996. It would have been surprising for Tennessee to go Democratic in 2000. But Louisiana has been pretty strongly Republican for a while now, and Romney won in Louisiana in 2012 with 58% of the vote. For Jindal to be polling behind Hillary Clinton is not a good sign for his campaign.
Mitt Romney set the record for alienating his home states, by losing Massachusetts, Michigan, and California, although he did carry Utah.
And that’s another possible comparison for Jindal - Romney decided to run for President at about the same time he told Massachusetts he was sick of the place, even though he was still governor there.
Almost everything about Jindal make him seem like someone who is desperate to sell out but can’t find anyone to buy.
He has an Ivy League biology degree and was a Rhodes scholar, but takes the side of creationists and intelligent designers in educational policy.
He is an Indian-American who was born to Hindu parents, but he gives the impression to me and others with that background that you can’t be a proper American while having some affection for your Indian background, your non-Western religious background, or your non-Anglo name.
My mom cares: she’s been lauding him as a good presidential contender since before the last presidential election. I’ve never heard another person (not on TV) mention him in any context.
