We Won’t Have Bobby Jindal To Kick Around Anymore

Bobby Jindal Speaking

Bobby Jindal is the latest candidate to drop out of the race for the Republican Presidential nomination:

WASHINGTON — Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, a onetime rising Republican star whose popularity has plummeted in his own state, abruptly dropped out of the presidential race on Tuesday, conceding that he was unable to find any traction.

“This is not my time,” he said on Fox News.

Mr. Jindal unveiled a series of policy proposals, ferociously attacked Donald J. Trump and spent considerable time courting conservatives in Iowa, which begins the presidential nominating process. None of it worked. He raised little money, did not rise high enough in the polls to appear on the prime-time debate stage and was overshadowed by unconventional candidates such as Mr. Trump and Ben Carson.

In withdrawing, Mr. Jindal alluded to his parents’ emigration to the United States from India 45 years ago.

“I don’t think in a million years they would have ever imagined that I’d be governor or one day I’d be running for president of the United States,” he said.

But, he said, “I’ve come to the realization this is not my time.”

It never was your time Bobby, it never was your time.

FILED UNDER: 2016 Election, US Politics, , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. ernieyeball says:

    Gov. Mike Huckabee ✔@GovMikeHuckabee
    Governor @BobbyJindal is one of the smartest and deepest thinking people in our entire Republican Party.
    5:25 PM – 17 Nov 2015

    That lake is so shallow Jesus could have walked across it and not gotten his ankles wet!

  2. Ron Beasley says:

    @ernieyeball: Bobby Jindal has to be one of the dumbest Rhode’s scholars ever.

  3. PJ says:

    Who?

  4. Scott says:

    At the end of the day, this is a failed Governor who had the delusion that he should fail upward.

  5. Neil Hudelson says:

    It’s amazing that all these smart, accomplished, conservative leaders aren’t able to come close to accomplishing what a lowly community organizer has done.

  6. gVOR08 says:

    @Neil Hudelson: Do any of our conservative friends have any idea what a community organizer does? I couldn’t do it. Great training for a politician.

  7. C. Clavin says:

    Now Jindal is free to continue with his program for the complete destruction of the already pathetic LA economy.

  8. Pete S says:

    @Scott: At the end of the day, this is a failed Governor who had the delusion that he should fail upward.

    I don’t know that failed Governor is exactly the right term. He intentionally ran his state into the ground in the belief that would endear him to Republican voters nation-wide. In a normal year he may have been right, it was his bad fortune to point his efforts at a year with 18 candidates all trying to out-stupid each other to appeal to the Republican Base. In the end this year is coming down to “authenticity” for the nomination, and he may not have been authentically stupid and incompetent enough to satisfy the base.

  9. Scott says:

    I don’t know that failed Governor is exactly the right term. He intentionally ran his state into the ground in the belief that would endear him to Republican voters nation-wide.

    OK, I’ll admit I was being kind.

  10. al-Ameda says:

    @C. Clavin:

    Now Jindal is free to continue with his program for the complete destruction of the already pathetic LA economy.

    Now perhaps we can get Jindal and Brownback (Kansas) to swap jobs for a year and see who can bring down a state economy faster?

  11. Franklin says:

    @gVOR08:

    Do any of our conservative friends have any idea what a community organizer does?

    Of course not. The first response should always be to confidently say something negative. Later on, one can cobble together some information that sort of supports your position.

  12. Franklin says:

    BTW, I’m impressed by the 11 comments here, which suggests that somebody cares about Jindal. It’s certainly a more impressive turnout than most of his campaign stops.

  13. C. Clavin says:

    Jindals record in LA…from Salon:

    -He entered office with an $865 million surplus and he will exit with a $1.6 billion deficit.
    -Funding for higher education has been cut by more than 80 percent, and the entire system is experiencing a fiscal crisis.
    -Funding for youth services has been cut by 40 percent.
    -Funding for Veterans Affairs programs has been cut by 69 percent.
    -The Department of Environmental Quality has been cut by 96 percent (in a state with a rapidly eroding coastline).
    -He rejected a Medicaid expansion in order to protest Obamacare, and thousands of low-income Louisianans remain without health care as a result.
    -Louisiana has the highest infant mortality rate in the nation; the highest diabetes-related death rate; the highest rate of death from breast cancer; the third highest rate of cancers deaths overall; and the eighth highest rate of teenage pregnancy.
    -He rejected $300 million of federal stimulus money (one his favorite talking points at the time), despite Louisiana’s underfunded and crumbling infrastructure.
    -He issued a symbolic executive order that defended discrimination under the guise of “religious freedom.”
    -He sold out his state to protect BP against legitimate lawsuits. (Side note: Jindal’s brother is a lawyer for the firm representing BP).
    -He held a massive “prayer rally” on the state’s flagship campus, a rally that promoted his presidential campaign and distributed materials blaming gay people for hurricanes and natural disasters.
    -He signed the Louisiana Science Education Act, which allowed creationism to be taught in science courses at public schools.

  14. Bill Lefrak says:

    Jindal was waaaay over the heads of the GOP’s primary selectorate.

    Brilliant. Experienced. Successful governor of a noteworthy state with a significant local economy and major real world industries. He’d make a good president. But no realistic chance of getting through the quagmire of the so-called Republican “base.”

  15. Pete S says:

    @Bill Lefrak:

    Jindal was waaaay over the heads of the GOP’s primary selectorate.

    Brilliant. Experienced. Successful governor of a noteworthy state with a significant local economy and major real world industries.

    If Bobby Jindal’s performance in Louisiana makes him a “Successful governor” what on earth would he have to do for you to describe him as a failure? Or do you just think that the people of Louisiana are stupid because they did not appreciate how brilliant you need to be to run the health and education of your residents into the ground while still blowing a massive hole in the budget?

  16. C. Clavin says:

    @Bill Lefrak:

    Brilliant. Experienced. Successful governor of a noteworthy state with a significant local economy and major real world industries. He’d make a good president.

    I’m assuming that’s sarcasm.

  17. Franklin says:

    @Bill Lefrak: Mmm, I suppose it’s possible. But it sure looked like he was pandering to the base with his most well-known quotes.

  18. Just 'nutha ig'rant cracker says:

    @C. Clavin: Wow! By comparison, Carly Fiorina was a miracle worker at HP!