Jindal McCain's Veep?

Folks want to know what I think of the possibility that Governor Bobby Jindal will be John McCain's choice as a running mate.

From the Advocate:

WASHINGTON — Bobby Jindal may not become U.S. Sen. John McCain’s presidential running mate, but just being invited to Arizona this weekend with vice presidential contenders signals his meteoric rise in the national Republican Party.

Washington political analysts contend the inclusion of the first-term Louisiana governor means GOP national leaders consider him pivotal to their future.

“All this does is get him in the room,” said John Samples, director of representative government for the libertarian Cato Institute. “And this is a roomful of people who might run for the highest office in the nation in the next 10 to 15 years.”

“This is a party that is in real trouble if John McCain loses,” Samples added. “They’re going to be discussing where do we go from here and Jindal will be in the mix of that discussion.”

Jindal's not really my kind of man, Republican, staunch supporter of Bush, etc. He never really was, but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt once he was elected, with his major pitch being the promise to clean up corruption in state government. It was not long before word came out that Jindal's campaign had failed to include certain moneys, a mere $118,264, in their reports on campaign funding. Whoops! It was just an oversight, an accounting error, blah, blah, blah. Nonetheless, he had to pay a $2,500 fine, the maximum. That's how Governor Clean began his term.

Louisiana's lieutenant-governor is Mitch Landrieu, a DEMOCRAT, who would succeed Jindal, if he became vice-president. I'd love to have him as governor, but I surely don't want McCain elected president so that Louisiana can have a Democratic governor. No, indeed! If Jindal is McCain's choice, I presume that he will not resign his position as governor during the campaign.

So. How has Jindal measured up so far? A few examples from my fellow Louisiana blogger, Jim, from JindalWatch, who keeps a closer watch on the governor - thus his blog name. Here's his post on Jindal's request for expert advice on the appointment of a new general to lead the Louisiana National Guard, only to ignore the expert advice in making his choice.

Another of Jindal's pre-election promises was transparency in the governor's office. However, when the rubber met the road, Jindal sang a different tune - to mix up the metaphors dreadfully. As the Louisiana Legislature considered the passage of an ethics bill, again from JindalWatch:

Also, according to [reporter, [Mark] Ballard, "A Senate committee forwarded legislation that would make secret most documents involving the governor and his staff. Though Jindal yakked up his “gold standard ethics reform” with TV talk show host Jay Leno, he spent more than a week ducking local press questions about all the loopholes and surprises in those ethics bills. The most seminal image — also televised — showed the governor’s press secretary’s body blocking a television reporter who tried to ask those questions as a door closed on a silent Jindal."

Just two examples among others of why I don't see Jindal as any kind of new beginning for the Republican Party. His press secretary Melissa Sellers and his chief of staff Tom Teepell are already on the enemies list of many local reporters because they reach out to the national media and tend to ignore the the Louisiana press corps. The danger there for the Jindal administration is in a heightened determination on the part of the local press, to seek out what the Jindal administration may be hiding from them. Jindal seems to have large ambitions beyond the boundaries of Louisiana, perhaps even the presidency of the US. Well, a boy can dream, can't he?

Folks who know the odds, think that Jindal will very likely not be chosen, but he'd surely settle for the keynote speech at the Republican convention. He's not that good a speaker, so I don't know if he'll get that either. Any speech in prime time would probably be fine with him, too.