Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Bobby Jindal not ready for prime time, yet

Everyone is blasting Bobby Jindal, they should, he was that bad in the Republican response delivery last night, but he has time.

When Barack Obama first graced the debate stage in April of 2007, he was that bad, too. After the debate, I remember telling my husband time for "debate school for television." This is how Hillary Clinton emerged the inevitable candidate for most of 2007 because she was that good in the debates.

Barack Obama is a thoughtful, winded speaker and over the time he got better in his delivery at debates. He found a way to bring humor in his statements. He learned because he ran for President for two years. Jindal will have time, if he is serious about running for the presidency in 2012.

Optics for television is a must. All of 2007, the Republican candidates talked about tunneling Ronald Reagan, but none of them were. Reagan was not called the great communicator for nothing. Many of the things that Obama is doing early in his presidency is what Reagan did. The one thing is taking the message to the people, making the public understand what he means and letting the public know that cable chatter will continue to try to get it twisted. Let's face it about the cable channels, that is their job to keep friction going or they would have nothing to talk about. Jindal will have to learn the optics of television and learn to become pleasing on the eye or an actor, but more importantly next time to know what and what not to say after speaking behind this century's great communicator, President Obama.

It seems that the GOP or Republican Party only has one way to run, the hard right for 2012. Though their party needs to bring moderates and that party to the center, this is not what they will do in 2012. For them in 2012, their candidate will have to be a hard right conservative, period. The problem is that I don't know if that will work. This country, at this point, have refused the Republican Party and gave Obama a mandate. Their strongest talking point was their fiscal responsibility and they allowed it to become decimated during the Bush Administration, now they are fighting to retain it. It will be hard, especially when no fiscal restraint was made under your watch.

As they position themselves for the future, these governors are following a well-worn GOP roadmap, which calls for national Republican candidates to run hard to the right to woo their party's most conservative base.

That roadmap didn't work in the 2008 presidential election. But Republicans' stubborn political GPS won't let them recalculate. They continue to follow it, even if it means putting personal political interest ahead of their constituents' economic interests.

Lastly, if Obama's Stimulus Package does not work or appear to turn this country around, it will be the talking point for 2010 for the Republicans. Obama's job is to keep this country engaged, keep the transparency and process open, and remind the public that it will take time to turn this country around. These problems were not just dumped on the desk of Barack Obama when he ascended to the presidency, these problems have been around for some time now, most during Bush's time in office. Time will tell.

And Jindal, hire an acting coach and speech coach, believe me after last night, you are just not ready for prime time.

Source

Jindal's speech on video

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