Jindal has become the new ‘underdog’

God Bless the United States of America! Those were the final words spoken by President Barack Obama and Gov. Bobby Jindal last week after each addressed the American public on nationwide television.

While they recited the same conclusions, their speeches, and the manner in which they were delivered, could not have been more different.

While President Obama was poised and charismatic as he told the country of his agenda, Jindal’s awkward and stilted delivery overshadowed his cautionary concerns.

The governor’s supporters had hoped the national spotlight would show America the similarities and stark differences between Jindal and Obama. Instead, viewers saw only differences, and the national news media were quick to criticize the governor as “not ready for primetime.”

History will decide the outcome of the speech. However, after carefully considering its ramifications, I believe history will show the speech as a defining moment and a break from the Bush presidency.

Jindal put a human face on the Republican Party, something that has been missing.

Arrogance defined the GOP for the past eight years, and to some, removing the Bush regime was tantamount to toppling a powerful, disconnected monarch.

Obama became the president for commoners, and anger at the Republican Party showed in the November elections. The anger remains as ramped among Obama’s supporters today as was the anger of the French against King Louis XVI following the French Revolution.

While Obama’s confidence and persona last week showed Americans, and the world, that a new person now sits on the throne, Jindal’s speech may have shown us that Republicans have become the new commoners.

Many watching last week related to the governor for being nervous and awkward. If he had emerged from the corridor poised and presidential, I might have felt as though he was the new face for the old Republican Party. Instead, some of us came away with the feeling that this was a new leader learning his way … and hopefully, a party doing the same.

We all seem to relate better to people who are considered to be ‘underdogs,’ and last year, Obama was one such person. That label was lifted last week.

In his Republican response to Obama’s speech before Congress, the governor unintentionally showed a new side to the Republican Party. There is a new ‘underdog’ in town, and his name is Jindal.