Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is back on the road again tonight, flying to Texas for a series of fundraisers. Jindal has been piling up his frequent flyer miles ever since he was elected Governor of Louisiana.
During the campaign, he has helped Republican candidates in Mississippi, Washington, Missouri and Florida. Post-election, Jindal has been to Philadelphia and Miami on state business, but also found time to travel to Iowa for a speech to a pro-family group. Many analysts viewed his visit to the site of the first presidential caucus as a potential first step in his own race for the White House. In fact, there is so much speculation about Jindal running for President that he recently placed third in a Zogby poll asking Republicans who they wanted as their nominee in 2012.
It is no surprise that ever since he was elected Governor Jindal has been in high demand as a speaker to conservative groups and a headliner for Republican fundraisers. He has been touted by such conservative luminaries as Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich.
Yet, here is the problem with Jindal’s presidential ambitions. Louisiana voters elected the Governor to do a major job here. In case people missed it, Louisiana was just ranked as the unhealthiest state in the nation, just a few days after being listed as second from the bottom in education and just a few weeks after New Orleans was named as the Crime Capital of the nation.
The workload in our state is almost overwhelming. Louisiana residents need our Governor to be focused on nothing but reforming our state. The Governor needs to take the lead in reforming our charity hospital system and determining what happens to the old CharityHospital in New Orleans. If the new LSU hospital is going to be built in New Orleans, the delays must end. The area is losing too many physicians and too many people are dying because there are not enough hospitals open in the New Orleans area.
The state’s fiscal woes are immense. For example, our state budget has tripled in 12 years, so we need massive budget reform. In fact, Jindal has a host of budget issues to deal with as the price of oil has fallen and the budget deficit will exceed $1 billion next year. Our tax climate needs to be reformed so that we will attract more business to our state and give our homegrown businesses the type of climate that helps them grow and succeed.
If businesses grow and prosper in Louisiana, Governor Jindal will not have to travel in search of jobs for our state; instead the jobs were come to Louisiana in droves. But, nothing will happen until the work is done, the tough decisions are made, and the reforms are implemented. For all of this to happen, Governor Jindal needs to be focused on his job and in the State of Louisiana working on these issues. Every trip out of state on fundraising or personal politics, takes him away from the tasks that need to be accomplished here in Louisiana and the reasons why the voters of Louisiana elected him to office.
Jeff Crouere is the Host of “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 7:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7 till 11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore. He is the Political Analyst for WGNO-TV ABC26 and the Political Editor for NewOrleans.com. For more information, visit his web site at RingsidePolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com
IOWHDETWBMB - if only we had Democrats everywhere, things would be much better. Written by "IOWHDETWBMB" just blog that David
on 12/4/2008
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Jindal needs to run for the US Senate in 2010. Then he would be free to run for President in 2012 while Mitch Landrieu could focus on improving Louisiana as governor. Written by David Quidd
on 12/4/2008
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Jeff,
This column is yet another illustration of why we stay so backward in Louisiana. You reflect the kind of myopia that continues to keeps us looking inward and not expanding our vision and aspirations beyond our own borders, or beyond the ideas of the past. We cannot grow if we don't look upon ourselves as national players. While I am not a supporter of his political philosophy, Gov. Jindal is probably the best public relations medium we have ever had. Just today I was speaking with people from New York and Atlanta, and both asked me about our "dynamic young Governor". Further, in this era of instantaneous communication, the Governor is never more than a nanosecond away from his key personnel or from major corporate or governmental leaders regardless of where he may be physically located. Get with it, Jeff! Join the 21st Century and the new ways that communications and organizational management are conducted. Written by CL
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The government said the number of people continuing to claim unemployment benefits last week reached 4.09 million, the highest level since December 1982, when the economy was emerging from a recession. We are now ENTERING a declared recession... Light sweet crude fell 95 cents to $45.84 on the New York Mercantile Exchange after tumbling close to $45. And of course, LSU is scrapping Earl K. Long Charity Hospital in Baton Rouge seeking a deal with Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center instead for its Baton Rouge campus students...... Has anyone ever stopped to think that there are simply to many campus pursuits in too many locations around Louisiana? And the end result is what? Has anyone ever looked at the statistics of students that started pursuing a field through college education and ended up working in it, let alone stayed with it? Now low cost housing for students that want to go to school that come from other areas isn't that bad of a solution.......
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The government said the number of people continuing to claim unemployment benefits last week reached 4.09 million, the highest level since December 1982, when the economy was emerging from a recession. We are now ENTERING a declared recession... Light sweet crude fell 95 cents to $45.84 on the New York Mercantile Exchange after tumbling close to $45. And of course, LSU is scrapping Earl K. Long Charity Hospital in Baton Rouge seeking a deal with Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center instead for its Baton Rouge campus students...... Has anyone ever stopped to think that there are simply to many campus pursuits in too many locations around Louisiana? And the end result is what? Has anyone ever looked at the statistics of students that started pursuing a field through college education and ended up working in it, let alone stayed with it? Now low cost housing for students that want to go to school that come from other areas isn't that bad of a solution.......
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I don't know that too many people are dying because there are not enough hospitals open in New Orleans..... Perhaps those 'too many' people that are dying is directly in relationship to a geographical proximity they inhabit? I have never met the doctor one that could save a life, no not one..... Prolong its existence perhaps so that lucre can be extracted, but inevitably, the patient dies... So a person has to pose a fundemental question, are taxes being spent to attract doctors, or are doctors being attracted so that more taxes can be collected? What a vicious cycle...... Written by
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Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is back on the road again tonight, flying to 
