A NEW DAY IN LOUISIANA - GOVERNOR JOHN BEL EDWARDS

Today is Monday, January 11, 2016, and inauguration day for Governor John Bel Edwards. All good wishes and blessings to our new governor and his family.   The other Edwards, Edwin, (no relation) was there on the platform, looking good, along with other previous governors, Kathleen Blanco, Buddy Roemer, and, of course, Bobby Jindal. Bye-bye, Bobby.

I noted that in the oath of office of the newly elected officials, support for the laws of the US Constitution is mentioned before the support of the laws of the Louisiana Constitution, indicating that Louisiana is indeed still part of the United States of America.

Edwards offered hope to citizens of Louisiana after eight dispiriting and depressing years of governorship by Jindal, but he did not mince words about the difficulty of lifting the state out of the morass into which the previous governor and legislature left Louisiana.  I view the members of the previous legislature, with exceptions, of course, as complicit, because Jindal could not have plundered Louisiana without their cooperation.   I hope the next legislature, which includes many Jindal supporters, will be willing to lay aside their differences and cooperate with the new governor to rebuild institutions and programs that were destroyed during Jindal's eight years in office.

As Governor Edwards said:

The breeze of hope that got us here today will also drive a current of change as mighty as the Mississippi. But this river can't flow unless the breeze continues. We must put action before idleness, unity before party, and citizenship before self in order to put Louisiana first.

The text of Edwards' inaugural address may be found here.

"BEEFED UP" BOBBY

I’m a congenital pessimist, so don’t give me too much credit for drawing attention to this pending debacle-cum-comic-relief. Instead, all praise should go to National Review’s Eliana Johnson, who reported Monday evening that a source “close to” Jindal was willing to confirm that the “slight” governor “has gained 13 pounds over the past few months” because he’s “looking to beef up” now that the 2016 campaign is “on the horizon.”
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To understand why the Jindal camp’s decision to share this little scooplet is so phenomenally bizarre and foreboding, rather than simply silly and weird, you need to keep in mind just how much of a disaster his tenure as Louisiana governor has been.

Finally a national publication focuses on the maladministration of Jindal, who governed, untrammeled by the Louisiana Legislature, according to Tea Party philosophy.  The legislature is complicit in every way, because they allowed Jindal to have his way in all his policies except the sales tax proposal.  Jindal's legacy in Louisiana will be the destruction of worthy institutions and programs due to budget cuts and privatizing and a budget nightmare that will be left to the next governor to untangle.

It is beyond laughable that Jindal thinks he will revive his campaign for president by gaining weight.  I have not once heard a Louisiana citizen criticize Jindal because he's not "beefed up" enough.  Keep in mind that though the people of Louisiana don't like him now, he was reelected to a second term by a landslide.