Jindal and Convention

The national “Buzz” is that Bobby Jindal will deliver the keynote address at the Republican Convention.

Jindal is in favor of many of the issues that bedrock Republicans support and he would stand on the national stage.

Here’s one small voice suggests that Jindal not deliver the address.

Jindal will not draw people to TV nationally, and could be fighting a Democratic Congress and possibly a Democratic President once the election is over.

If he is labeled as a leading partisan, it will make it that much harder for him to achieve what he wants in Washington for the state should the Democrats dominate.

Unlike any other state, Louisiana’s list of needs are many since Katrina.

We are beginning to see results of legislative sessions and executive orders, and, generally speaking, Jindal can be proud of his record as Governor to date.

With the help of a full coalition of the Louisiana Congressional delegation, he was able to get President Bush to enact the thirty-year repayment plan for the levees instead of a three-year plan.  He is revamping ethics, healthcare, workforce and has a good chance of bringing in a big fish with Nucor who produce pig iron.

Jindal can still be a fiscal and social conservative and I am certainly not asking him to change.  But, when he becomes a keynote speaker for a party, he will be cutting red meat for the Reds against the Blues and his words might help the Republicans in a modest way, but might not help him in governing back home with a Democrat-controlled legislature who will cut him no meat after last session . 

We all should be proud of our Governor, so far, although there obviously have been rough times.  Right now, perhaps due to the list of needs, he should take the course of least resistance and go about rebuilding the State of Louisiana in his image and not worry about the national Republican party and his national reputation.  There is a season for everything and we need home seasonings.     

US Senate Debates

I have already gone on record to suggest that John Kennedy should have created a record between his office and that of Mary Landrieu’s regarding her “alleged” unwillingness to  debate him.  I have also been critical of the Treasurer for not speaking out forcefully last year during the Gubernatorial election and I have criticized the GOP for engaging in hypocrisy for further claiming that Landrieu will not debate when it sat silent during last year’s Governor’s election.

However, I have also gone on record imploring that the two candidates meet in forums between now and Election Day.  I know that Senator Landrieu has a outstanding record for showing up for Senate votes.  I know she wants to continue her fight to fashion compromise legislation on the Energy crises.  But, with so much politics in the air, and with a new President and new members in Congress, it is doubtful that any real Energy legislation gets passed during this period.  As long as the GOP does not attack her for abandoning her post, she should campaign and debate during these next few months.  The more she stays in Washington DC, the more it will appear she is dodging.  She has a record she can defend and while a recent Zogby poll claims that Kennedy is leading in the US Senate race, most pundits I have talked to reject the results of that online opt-in poll but feel the race is very tight.  But now, Senator Landrieu needs to focus upon the fight of her political life.  There will be little life in Washington DC until elections.  It is time for her to come and stay home and campaign and challenge her opponent on the issues in non-televised and televised public forums.  Right now, her greater obligation is to the citizens of Louisiana and not to an agenda which will not garner the attention of the Congress due to the elections.  The debate issue should be “no debate” which means we should be full of public debates and forums.  Let’s let the politics and the issues fly here in Louisiana along with the myriad of questions from the state’s voters.

John Edwards and David Vitter

All weekend, we have heard on television and other media that John Edwards should come clean about his “love child” and his affair.  Without doubt, Edwards joins a long list of leading national figures who have been disgraced.  Ironically, some of the same people who want details about Edwards are the same who want no details about their own US Senator, David Vitter. 

We often hear that Vitter’s life is personal, that he apologized, that the story is over.  The truth is that he told none of the state anything other than he sinned.  Then, he said he has told us everything.   He was willing to take the fifth amendment in the DC madam case while as a US Senator, he is and will be writing criminal legislation that requires witnesses to testify in order to prosecute the crimes.  He did not want to incriminate himself from any possible crime.  The fifth amendment is not to protect people from mere embarrassment but possible criminal action.  Unfortunately, since we do not know what his testimony would have been in the DC madam case and since she later committed suicide, we will not get a chance to know the extent of his misdeeds in what appears to be various affairs.  If we go after John Edwards to satisfy our civic purposes and for some even (their prurient curiosities), we should demand our own Senator to stand up like a man, not a wimp and spill his beans.