In a powerful speech, President Barack Obama laid out starkly America’s serious problems and, as strongly, provided a vision for the future and the paths to get there. “It all begins with energy …” Holding the unenviable position of following President Obama’s oratory, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal delivered the Republican response. Consider the demonstrated Republican incompetence over the past eight years and the nation’s dire straits, Jindal’s speech provided a stark contrast. As David Brooks put it,
to come up at this moment in history with a stale “government is the problem,” “we can’t trust the federal government” – it’s just a disaster for the Republican Party. The country is in a panic right now. … that idea that we’re just gonna – that government is going to have no role, the federal government has no role in this, that – In a moment when only the federal government is actually big enough to do stuff, to just ignore all that and just say “government is the problem, corruption, earmarks, wasteful spending,” it’s just a form of nihilism. It’s just not where the country is, it’s not where the future of the country is. … I think it’s insane, and I just think it’s a disaster for the party
Jindal argued against “big government” by pointing to Katrina, arguing for the power of the individual citizen and the citizen’s spirit vs the faceless evil and unfeeling bureaucrat. No discussion of how Republican ideology of bad governance created the conditions for the disaster and Republican governance ineptitude drove the situation far worse.
And, well, when it comes to energy and an energy future, Jindal offer little more than Sarah “Energy Expert” Palin.
This evening, President Obama clearly stated challenges and offered a vision for future triumph. In what was clearly meant as an introduction the nation and a testing of the waters for larger office, Bobby Jindal successfully reminded US of eight years of disaster.
Jindal attacking big governance due to Katrina
Today in Washington, some are promising that government will rescue us
from the economic storms raging all around us.Those of us who lived through Hurricane Katrina, we have our doubts.
Unlike 2005, in Washington today, there are adults who see government as part of the solution, not constantly denigrating it as “the problem” while shoveling as much money as possible to their tuxedo-wearing “base”.
Let me tell you a story.
During Katrina, I visited Sheriff Harry Lee, a Democrat and a good friend of mine. When I walked into his makeshift office I’d never seen him so angry. He was yelling into the phone: ‘Well, I’m the Sheriff and if you don’t like it you can come and arrest me!’ I asked him: ‘Sheriff, what’s got you so mad?’ He told me that he had put out a call for volunteers to come with their boats to rescue people who were trapped on their rooftops by the floodwaters. The boats were all lined up ready to go – when some bureaucrat showed up and told them they couldn’t go out on the water unless they had proof of insurance and registration. I told him, ‘Sheriff, that’s ridiculous.’ And before I knew it, he was yelling into the phone: ‘Congressman Jindal is here, and he says you can come and arrest him too!’ Harry just told the boaters to ignore the bureaucrats and start rescuing people.
Okay, Bobby, there are bad bureaucrats even as the vast majority are dedicated, hard working, effective people. Great story …
There is a lesson in this experience: The strength of America is not found in our government.
Sure, Bobby, the government isn’t necessary for building levees. Yes, Bobby, if we’d only not had those bureaucrats, those boaters would have rescued all those people carried out via Coast Guard helicopers.
That is why Republicans put forward plans to create jobs by lowering income tax rates for working families … cutting taxes for small businesses … strengthening incentives for businesses to invest in new equipment and hire new workers … and stabilizing home values by creating a new tax credit for home-buyers. These plans would cost less and create more jobs.
The Republican answer to every problem: “tax cuts”. Well, they have worked wonders for the past eight years. And, no, Bobby, tax cuts do not create more jobs. That is simply not true.
But Democratic leaders in Congress rejected this approach. Instead of trusting us to make wise decisions with our own money, they passed the largest government spending bill in history – with a price tag of more than $1 trillion with interest.
Okay. (1) “Trusting us … with our own money …” Bobby, we’re borrowing this money from, for example, the Chinese. It is our children’s money which is going to be invested to help strengthen the economy today and tomorrow. “Price tag of more than $1 trillion …” Is the problem the price or that it wasn’t all in ineffective tax cuts?
While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government,
Efficient vehicles for the government is “lard”? Buying cars amid an anemic market place is “wasteful spending”?
$8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a ‘magnetic levitation’ line from Las Vegas to Disneyland
Can we sound a gong? This is both misguided and a line. First, the high-speed rail projects are good government spending (even if not nearly enough). BUt, as to that MagLev line from Las Vegast to Disneyland, that is simply a lie. As we have seen for years, the Republican Party is more interested in Faux News regurgitating Republican truthiness than actual truth. “Fox News hosts and contributors have advanced the false claim — pushed by Republican lawmakers — that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid included a provision in the recovery bill directing that $8 billion be spent on a high-speed rail line between Southern California and Las Vegas. In fact, the bill does not direct high-speed rail funds to any specific project, and any funding would be allocated by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Republican congressman.”
and $140 million for something called ‘volcano monitoring.’
Did he really come out and say that monitoring systems for natural disasters is wasteful funding? Does he remember that he mentioned Katrina a few paragraphs earlier.
Bobby turns to energy …
To strengthen our economy, we need urgent action to keep energy prices down. All of us remember what it felt like to pay $4 at the pump – and unless we act now, those prices will return. To stop that from happening, we need to increase conservation … increase energy efficiency … increase the use of alternative and renewable fuels … increase our use of nuclear power – and increase drilling for oil and gas here at home. We believe that Americans can do anything – and if we unleash the innovative spirit of our citizens, we can achieve energy independence.
Glad to hear Bobby speak to energy efficiency and renewables. To warn that $4 gallon gasoline likely to return. And, well, “Drill, Baby, Burn …”
This evening Barack Obama offered Americans a vision.
This evening Bobby Jindal reminded Americans why they have turned to the Democratic Party to lead the nation in perilous times.