Bobby Jindal Re-Emerges to Challenge Obama Health Care Reform

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal was supposed to be the new face of the Republican Party. His youth, Indian heritage, Catholic faith, and Southern conservative values, as well as his smooth-talking, media-friendly personality, made him a contender to be the fresh alternative to aging GOP leaders.

Jindal, however, had a false start in his race to the national stage. In February, party leaders chose him to give the Republican response to President Obama's address to Congress. But Jindal embarrassed himself on national TV with a goofy, amateurish speech that made him look like he was, literally, not ready for prime time.

He then retreated from national politics and returned to working on local issues until the state legislature session ended in June. He was smart to take a time out, both to give the public time to forget his dorky speech and, hopefully, to get media training to prepare for national spotlight.

So now he's back, and he picked the perfect issue for debate -- the Obama health care reform plan.

Either by coincidence or brilliant strategy, Jindal's planned return to the national stage came this week -- with op-eds and TV interviews on CNN and Fox -- couldn't have come at a better time. The Washington Post headline Monday was "Poll Shows Obama Slipping on Key Issues: Approval Rating on Health Care Falls Below 50 Percent." The poll shows that approval rating of Obama's handling of health care has fallen from 57 to 49 percent, a significant fall in a short period.

This month, Republicans have finally been able to get some traction on issues where the president is vulnerable: wasteful spending of the stimulus money, unemployment, and health care reform. The GOP, however, continues to lack effective and likeable leaders to communicate the message.

So young and dynamic Gov. Jindal again has a real opening now to take on a national role in the Republican Party, as long as he has gained the policy depth and media training needed for the job. He seems to be on the right track, as he posted on Twitter Monday: "A trillion here, a trillion there . . . I've been catching up on the news in Washington."

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