Did Bobby Jindal’s 2009 Speech destroy his political career?

It may not have fully ended it. It definitely dented it. The speech came off as dry and the delivery was deadpan since it was given in an empty mansion instead of the capitol with an audience.

Now if Jindal were to have run in 2012 instead of waiting to 2016, he may have had a greater impact on the national scene without having a Donald Trump take all the air in the campaign. But he would have had to run 2 campaigns with Louisiana having its gubernatorial election cycle the year before the presidential cycle. It doesn’t give anyone an advantage to run with presidential races being a 2 year race with the first year of organizing and campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire (which grinds my gears why those two states control presidential primary process, but that is a topic for another discussion).

Back to Jindal, Jindal spent the last year or of his term pretty much absent from the governor’s mansion while the state’s coffers were whittled down to breadcrumbs as oil and gas revenues declined, and he pretty much rubber stamped anything the legislature threw at him led by Senate President and RINO John Alario. No major policy initiatives in the state were launched, the state was essentially on autopilot, as the governor had 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in his crosshairs. His focus stayed on Iowa and New Hampshire only to dropout a few weeks before the caucuses. He was left out of all the debates and maybe made the “kids” pre debate when there were 16 candidates and Fox gave the low polling candidates their own debate before the main event.

You didn’t ask me this question, but my take on it is that he would not have been a good president. IMHO, he was without principled conviction. If you would’ve told him he would have a better chance to gain power as a Democrat, he would have thought nothing of putting the D behind his name.

I looked at Rubio differently after his. And not in a positive way

Jindal is a lightweight

I remember being so impressed with Jindal ( and disgusted with Kathleen Blanco) during all of the Hurricane Katrina coverage. He was so poised and showed such great leadership qualities during that fiasco juxtaposed to Blanco's tired, fearful and directionless press conferences in our states greatest time of need.

That leadership from Jindal springboarded him to the governorship as I was just one among many Louisianians who had seen him outclass Blanco on live TV.

Fast forward to the 2009 Republican response and I (as were many other conservatives) was really looking forward to his speech where I assumed he would look presidential, confident and assertive in his rebuttal to Obamas SOTU.....instead we were treated to one of the biggest let down responses of all time.

Every last word was canned, verbatim from a teleprompter with all the delivery and inflection of an 8th grader reading his book report straight off of note cards.

In my mind that was the beginning of the end for Bobby Jindal. That and he forgot to be a super star in his own state and let the call for a presidential run happen organically....instead he tried to force it.

Similarly to how DeSantis torpedoed his own popularity by trying to force things one election cycle too early.

Bobby's second term as governor and focusing more on presidential run instead of the state is what killed his chances.

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Did Bobby Jindal’s 2009 Speech destroy his political career?

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No, his second term as governor did.

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Did Bobby Jindal’s 2009 Speech destroy his political career?

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No. His second term did.

I was very involved with Jindal first (losing) campaign to Blanco when i was in my 20s. It was hard not to be impressed with him as his intelligence and command of even arcane policy was incredible. I really liked the people he had around him in that campaign and enjoyed the insurgent aspect of it. Results were not what we wanted but was optimistic based on the support he received that things were poised for change in the state.

Round 2 was completely different, as he brought on a new cast of characters to run things and they clearly had a much broader vision for him beyond Louisiana. I was not comfortable with the new team and was not active in that or his future campaigns, although I voted for him.

With all of his political capital and savvy, he had the single best opportunity to make substantive change for Louisiana in my lifetime. He squandered it completely.

My father and his friends chided me for the optimism that we could make this state better during the first campaign. I pushed back but they were 100% correct. This state is a lost cause.

I often wonder if he regrets his approach.