Stuck in the back of the crowded pack of Republican presidential hopefuls and trying to get back into the race, Bobby Jindal has opted to tear into Donald Trump, guns blazing.
Since getting in the race at the end of June, Jindal has underwhelmed, even as he attempted to showcase his opposition to Common Core and tried to appeal to social, economic and national security conservatives.
A CNN/ORC poll of Republicans across the nation released on Thursday highlighted Jindal’s dilemma. Trump led the field with 32 percent while Jindal was tied for 12th place with 1 percent.
Jindal stands in sharp contrast with the rest of the candidates at the bottom of the polls. Only 44, the 55th governor of Louisiana is not a politician who peaked in the 1990s like Jim Gilmore or George Pataki. Nor did he leave a bad impression with voters in the last presidential election like Rick Perry (who Jindal supported in 2012).
By going after Trump on Thursday, Jindal insisted he “put my own political mission aside" and focused on “something more important than myself, more important than any single candidate or person.” Hitting Barack Obama’s leadership and saying “America is ready for a politically incorrect conservative revolution,” Jindal conceded voters like an outsider like Trump who “says things people are thinking but are afraid to say."
“Trump’s diagnoses are correct — the professional political class in Washington, including the Republicans, is incompetent and full of nonsense. He is right. The political class in Washington has abandoned us,” Jindal said. “Trump has performed an important service by taking on the political class and exposing them for being completely full of nonsense.
“But, here’s the problem. Donald Trump is also full of nonsense,” Jindal added. “Don’t get me wrong — His act is tremendous. It’s a sellout show, and I’ve enjoyed it. I laughed out loud when he read Lindsey Graham’s cell number on live TV. I got a kick out of him giving kids helicopter rides at the Iowa state fair. And I was amused when he said the people at Jeb’s townhall were sleeping.But, it is now time for us to do what Donald would do, and say the thing that everyone is thinking, but is afraid to say out loud. So I’m going to do it.
“The Donald Trump Act is great, and the idea of Donald Trump is great — but the reality of Donald Trump is absurd, he’s a non-serious carnival act,” Jindal continued. “So here’s the truth about Trump that we all know, but have been afraid to say. Donald Trump is shallow. Has no understanding of policy. He’s full of bluster but has no substance. He lacks the intellectual curiosity to even learn. It’s silly to argue policy with this guy, he’s doesn’t know anything about it, he has no idea what he is talking about, he makes it all up on the fly. According to him, his health care plan will be ‘fabulous’ and his tax plan will be ‘really, really terrific.’ He’s shallow, no substance.”
Jindal went after Trump’s conservative credentials, looking to undermine his support with Republican primary voters.
“He does not believe in limited government and he has told us that over and over,” Jindal insisted about Trump. “From his belief in socialized medicine to his desire for tax increases, he’s told us over and over that he’s got no problem with big top-down style government. He’s only got one real problem with Washington – that he’s not running it.
“Donald Trump is for Donald Trump,” Jindal said. “He believes in nothing other than himself. He’s not a liberal, he’s not a moderate, and he’s not a conservative. He’s not a Republican, Democrat, or Independent. He’s not for anything or against anything. Issues and policies and ideals are not important to him. He’s for Donald.”
Then the gloves really came off as Jindal called Trump a “narcissist and an egomaniac” who “believes that he is the answer to every question." Jindal even insisted Trump was a danger to the nation because, turning the businessman’s slogan against him, “Donald Trump could destroy America’s chance to be great again.”
Jindal claimed Trump would “self-destruct in a massive way in a general election," that he would lose to Hillary Clinton in the general election.
While his presidential campaign garnered some media attention for attacking Trump, the Louisiana governor is also rolling the dice. Perry and Graham went after Trump and failed to lift their campaigns, sharing the stage with Jindal as the candidates at the back of the pack clashed in the first debate.
Despite his youth, Jindal could start to come off as someone who missed his opportunity to rise up in the ranks if his attack against Trump doesn’t boost his campaign.
The son of immigrants from India, Jindal headed up the state Department of Health and Hospitals in Louisiana during the 1990s and helped turn the Pelican States Medicaid program around, pulling it out of a $400 million deficit in three years. He also tackled Medicare, leading a bipartisan national commission studying ways to ensure that the federal program could remain solvent in the future. Jindal served two years in George W. Bush’s administration as an assistant secretary of Health and Human Services for planning and evaluation, a post he resigned to run for governor in 2003.
While Jindal lost the gubernatorial election, he bounced back the next year to win a congressional seat. During his tenure in Congress, Jindal moved up to the leadership, serving as an assistant whip and serving as vice chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attacks. Jindal also serves on the Homeland Security and the Education and the Workforce committees, giving him some credentials on issues where Romney has less experience. After winning re-election to Congress in 2006, Jindal would run for the governorship in 2007 and this time would walk away with the prize.
While there was speculation that Jindal would be John McCain’s running mate in 2008, his first real national exposure came the following year when he offered the Republican response to Obama’s first state of the union address. Jindal’s speech earned him harsh reviews from pundits across the political spectrum but he would go on to win a second gubernatorial term in 2011.
Jindal does have his share of political assets of course, including being the first Indian-American ever to seek the presidency and one of the brightest stars of Generation X during it’s limited time on the political stage. Fiscal conservatives will appreciate Jindal’s efforts to end the state income tax while activists can applaud his opposition to Common Core.
But Jindal has his weaknesses as well. He wrote an article about an exorcism in the tradtionalist Catholic magazine New Oxford Review that was published in 1994. Jindal’s record in Congress could also raise doubts on his fiscal conservatism. While he has used the veto pen in Louisiana to cut budgets, Jindal ranked as one of the top earmarkers in Congress in 2007. Jindal’s numbers in Louisiana have plummeted in recent months and his feud with David Vitter has split the GOP in the Pelican State.
Jindal needs something to stand out of the crowded Republican field and clearly figures going after Trump is the way to do it. But Jindal flopped badly when he had his shot in the national limelight responding to Obama’s State of the Union address. Now in his mid 40s, Jindal is already looking like a has-been and his attack against Trump is no surefire solution to get him back in the game.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
