I dispute that Jindal and his followers thought he had no shot from the beginning. Jindal had the paper qualifications, he was young, he was different, and he was fairly well known in Republican circles. He was working hard in Iowa, probably harder than any other candidate, which is not something you do if you’re not expecting to have a shot.
But in the end, Jindal was defeated by his bad record as governor and the GOP electorate’s desire for outsider candidates. I think he also is just a bad politician. He tried to put his leg into two camps, the religious right camp, but also a bit in the Huntsman camp when he gave his speech about how the GOP needed to not be stupid. He ended up appealing to neither.
Jindal’s national performances have tended to be poor but he’s actually a good speaker and good at retail politics. The GOP has seen him as a budding star for years, but his failure as governor put an end to that. That’s why his strategy was built around Iowa. He would outwork everyone, meet more people, and take advantage of Iowa’s natural preference for evangelical candidates. They just weren’t buying. They liked Ben Carson better, and if Carson disqualified himself there’s always Cruz, Huck, or Santorum to fall back on. Jindal just couldn’t find a niche.
Jindal never recovered from his State of the Union response years ago and any aspirations he had for higher office died on that day with it. Everything after that was delusional wishful thinking on his and anyone’s part who supported him.
Jindal never had a shot at the nomination. That anyone seriously thought he did is laughable.
And neither Carson, Cruz, Huckabee, or Santorum will be the nominee either. Trying to out-Jesus the next guy has never been a winning strategy, but what else have these four bozos got?
The idea that a speech can end a career is total nonsense. Bill Clinton’s keynote at the 1988 DNC Is one of the all time awful speeches. If Jindal had been an awesome governor with a great message he’d have been top tier. Instead he was a bad governor with no message and no niche within the party.
I guess you’ll convince yourself that Rubio is also unelectable because of a poor performance.
I remember back in the 80s when Democrats accused Republicans of being too focused on the performance art of politics rather than the substance. Things have certainly flipped in the Obama era. He truly is the Democratic Reagan.
Jindal was a rising star at that point, and his poor speech put a serious dent in that rise. It would have been a minor stumble had he had other strong positives, but he didn’t and he doesn’t as you note. The speech killed his momentum, and momentum was all he had.