I know it’s crazy, but maybe it isn’t as crazy as it sounds. So humor me as I go on a little thought experiment. Here are the circumstances where Bobby Jindal could end up as a Republican Vice Presidential candidate at the Republican Convention this summer:
First, presume that Sen. John McCain is the Republican nominee for the Presidency, and he’s running against a youthful, African American Barack Obama, who represents “change” and also “diversity” — and who is also a media darling. (That’s just a hypothetical; Hillary might very well win.) Against Obama, McCain looks very old and very white.
Jindal is both young and brown, and the novelty of putting him on the ticket might mitigate the novelty of a Barack Obama presidency somewhat. It would certainly generate a number of “isn’t it inspiring?” types of stories and editorials in newspapers and on cable news — lots of good press for McCain and the Republican party as a whole.
Second, McCain desperately needs to motivate the base — the really conservative members of his party — and one way he can do that is to pick someone for the Vice Presidency who is himself a thorough social conservative. Jindal, as we’ve already established, fits the bill, what with his opposition to abortion in every instance (“no exceptions”), his opposition to Stem Cell research, his support for the teaching of Intelligent Design in schools, his support for a constitutional amendment banning flag-burning, and his pro-gun outlook.
Finally, I don’t think McCain will ask Mike Huckabee to be his running mate, mainly because Huckabee, despite his obvious support, is seen by many conservatives as too soft on certain issues, including taxes and foreign policy. His humor and easygoing style is terrific, but he sometimes comes across as a bit nutty, and that could be a liability. If not Huckabee, who? (Not George Allen, I don’t think.)
(After I wrote this post, I went to Wikipedia to confirm a couple of facts, and I discovered that Rush Limbaugh apparently voiced the same idea on his radio show last week. Either that means I’m on the right track… or I’ve lost my mind!)
Abhi,
If don’t mind divulging your thoughts on this, why do you believe any Mccain ticket will be crushed? Is it because of the fractured republican party, the strength of the Democratic nominee, something else or combination thereof? BTW, I agree Jindal would not be chosen by Mccain.
Bobby Jindal ought to avoid McLame like the plague. Americans are sick and tired of fighting Israel’s wars. McLame is George Bush on steroids. McLame and the neocons will try to run the campaign on the issue of national security. If Obama is the democratic nominee he will take MClame apart.
As they say in Chess – A kingdom for a knight is good bargain. Someone may have said this before but Jindal really needs Obama to win the Presidency. Once Obama wins, the doors open easier for the likes of Jindal. I dont suppose Jindal wants to be the first non-white President of the USA.
Interesting,though the best choice for Republicans may be Gov. Haley Barbour. He is conservative, led the Repubican Party to majority status, will help rebuild state parties and help raise needed funds to match liberal spending. Look at http://www.drafthaley.com
I still think it’s going to be Huckabee. McCain-Huckabee ticket covers two of “the three stools of conservatism”, as Rush puts it. With George Allen, the great uniter of three stools, taken out, the security hawks and the social conservatives will settle for two-out-of-three. In a recession everyone loves bailouts, so the third stool of fiscal conservatism will not matter much if it ever did.
The only reason Bobby Jindal and Condoleeza Rice are even being mentioned as possible Republican vice-president nominees is because of Obama. The republican reasoning probably goes like this:
The Democrats are making history by having reduced their choice of presidential nominee to a woman and an african-american. We will one-up them by nominating an african-american woman for Vice-President!
The Democrats are claiming that Obama, a skinny colored guy with a foreign name who embraced christianity, is the next John F Kennedy. Well we republicans (at least Rush Limbaugh) have also found the next Ronald Reagan in a skinny colored guy with a foreign last name who has embraced christianity: Piyush “Bobby” Jindal.
Excellent response to the Jindal-haters Purushan.
Am I the only one who doesn’t believe any of the shit about McCain being a moderate? He’s as conservative as they come, Ã la Bobby Jindal. Pro-life, pro-censorship, Focus on the Family lurrrves him, the whole shebang.
Oh, and Louisiana is way too fucked up right now to be abandoned by Jindal. Really, now.
Oh, and I linked to this post, Amardeep.
What difference does it make? The republicans are going to lose in a landslide of epic proportions. There are some people (Joe Scarborough) saying that, it is the reason why Mitt Ramney dropped out early. He saw that he is on the wrong side of the trade, so he exited his ‘position’ 🙂
“Jindal, as we’ve already established, fits the bill, what with his opposition to abortion in every instance (“no exceptions�), his opposition to Stem Cell research, his support for the teaching of Intelligent Design in schools, his support for a constitutional amendment banning flag-burning, and his pro-gun outlook”.
Now, why blame desi parents when they desperately want their kids to become doctors. Look what happens when desis don’t become doctors.
I find it upsetting to see how many rabid democratic dogs continually spew their invective in comments on this site ad nauseum…I’m not a Republican by any means, but let’s have some intellectual honesty at a minimum. To dispute actual issues is one thing; to marginalize other groups without substantive reason is unconscionable. It’s the politics of the past that people from both the left and right have both grown to hate.
As for Jindal, he’s undeniably a desi–those of you who castigate him should just call him what you really think of him: an Uncle Tom or in the words of Robert Johnson, the guy from “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”
Jindal’s religious transition shouldn’t be an issue and certainly shouldn’t diminish his “desi-ness.” I can’t help but assess that much of the rancor I’ve witnessed on this site is due to the fact that THOSE PARTICULAR non-Christian desis somehow feel threatened and act out disproportionately as a result of their own feelings of inadequacy while growing up.
If there’s anyone who’s disliked more than McCain, it would probably be Huckabee. IMHO, we don’t need a bible-thumper as potential president. I hope he doesn’t. That would be pretty much the worst of all possibilities
What McCain really needs is someone who’ll unite the “Republican Base”, rather than further divide them.
PS: Im a long time lurker. Hello everybody!
I am not here to spew hatred. But the truth about Bobby Jindal is that he takes extremely fundamentalist stances on all issues, which are in line with the extreme wing of the Republican party. He is anti abortion, pro-intelligent design…etc etc…which has been quoted in some comments above. Most educated Indians are moderates, and not extremely right of center. I disagree with him on all his policy issues – he seems to cater to the white evangelical voter, which is a disappointment. The reference to his upbringing and his rejection of it – I think is personified by a rejection of his Indian roots, right from the fact that he is called Bobby – not Piyush. He changed his religion – it could have been anything to anything else – but he rejected his entire brought up as a result of that. Was this purely for political gain? We might never know. Even Obama joined a church late in life – but he is NOT a fundamentalist. He seems thoughtful and sincere. Thats what appeals to voters. He is ahead of Hillary, I think, because she still tries to say things voters want to hear.While he seems to say what he truly believes is right.
I was intrigued by the though experiment – that is why I interacted. I also think that the author is interested in this idea, only because of Jindal’s Indian lineage. Sorry for disagreeing completely.I don’t think Jindal will pick up any points on anybodies ticket. I have a link to an interesting article by Shashi Taroor below, which also wonders why we Indians need to celebrate Bobby Jindal at all. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Columnists/Shashi_Tharoor/SHASHI_ON_SUNDAY/Should_we_be_proud_of_Bobby_Jindal/articleshow/2495846.cms
46 · Jangali Jaanwar said
Traditionally, a VP “balances out” a ticket to appeal to a broader constituency. A moderate may pick a conservative, a Northerner picks a Southerner, a younger candidate picks and elder statesman, etc. That, and McCain is old as hell. He might die in office. Conservatives want a conservative to replace him.
Actually, there is a connection between colonialism and religion. And alot of people feel there’s been a great desecration of their traditions by both. Brush these experiences under the carpet all you want, but it aint going away. This aint the site to talk about it.
At first glance, Jindal’s conversion and name change spell “shameless opportunist” and “insincere” to me but I hardly know anything about him. I just find it pathetic that a prominent Indian-American leader has come in the form of a pencil necked geek. Call me superficial, but for that reason alone I wouldn’t want him as a running mate if I were John McCain. If you’re an old man and need to inject some vitality into your campaign, Bindal’s not your man.
67 · digitalcaptive said
There’s enough to hang Jindal with policy and position-wise without ragging on his looks. Most people in the political class, regardless of race or national origin, are pencil-necked geeks anyway. So he phenotypically fits that bill.
netizen… if jindal runs , i dont think he will be running for ‘educated indians’ [rolls eyes]. my stance is that we elect leaders whose views we align with and whose persuasive skills are sufficiently strong to drive through sticky legislation. so, i would expect a politician to be clear on his personal convictions and leave me with the decision on whether this is a person i would trust as an administrator. we can not be everything to everybody **. So, while i generally agree with the reasons for you to not support Mccain-Jindal [totally hypothetical at this point of course], i fundamentally believe that a politician should never just represent his/her constituents. hear me out.
a good leader should be – in decreasing order of priority.
To my mind, Jindal has demonstrated #1 and #2. I dont know enough about louisiana politics to be able to comment on #3 and #4.
**Actually, apparently this is good advice for all you romantically inclined macaques.
Didn’t Huckabee make comments to the effect that it would be better to change the US Constitution to conform to Christ’s words, rather than modifying Christ’s words to conform to prevalent social mores. (I don’t think he could have said evolving social mores ;-))
Of course, extrapolating my thoughts on politicking to the art of seeking a mate. whoosh – the sound of a thousand loins uncoiling …
a good partner/mate/bumchum/bosombuddy should be – in decreasing order of priority.
that’s why ethical philanderers make the best partner/mate/bumchum/bosombuddies.
64 · netizen said
Except you did, in your earlier comment. When people questioned your breathtaking ignorance, you responded by inarticulately babbling whilst not addressing a damned thing.
In your first comment, you said that when Jindal converted, he “gave up the mantle” of being desi. You should be embarrassed that you would think, let alone type something so stupid. Perhaps you are, and that’s why you won’t admit your words were thoughtless and that the initial comment you wrote was fueled by an irrational need to interpret someone else’s choices as an attack on your ostensibly fragile identity.
Bah! Bobby Jindal is a freaking rock star, are you kidding? Everyone knows who Jindal is, not just desis! He won’t be picked because, like others have said, he’s too new as a governor. But I think every Republican alive is dreaming of a President Jindal. Watch for him in 2012 or 2016, though. Geaux Bobby!
LOL! That’s why the craven Dobson said he’d “never vote for McCain,” right? Please.
Wrong. You obviously don’t know many Republicans, do you? Our love for Bobby Jindal has absolutely nothing to do with Obama. NOTHING.
As far as Jindal not being desi enough, whatever. I hadn’t realized all desis were alike, but I guess you think so.
Thank you. Well said. 🙂
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/veep_watch/2008/06/fineman_simon_play_veepstakes.html
“Newsweek’s Howard Fineman and Politico’s Roger Simon handicapped the VP race on Hardball this afternoon. Here’s a rough transcript of where they came down:
Bobby Jindal Simon – “Young, very young, almost too young to run… But if you’re John McCain and you know you’re going to get an x percentage of votes based on race, do you pick a dark-skinned vice presidential candidate who some people are going to say — wrongly — is black, is a Hindu converted to Catholicism? .. Is it a safe choice? .. I think McCain is going to go with a safer choice than that.”
Fineman – “I certainly think McCain is intrigued by Jindal … McCain is going to make this decision based in part on personal factors… he wants somebody he’s comfortable with and he really like Jindal. The problem being that Jindal is literally half his age. That maybe be a little strange for a guy who wants to emphasize the commander-in-chief role.”