Ricardo J Gonzalez for a Better America

Will McCain pick an ultra-conservative governor half his age to be his VP? Now that we know who the presidential candidates are, I thought I'd focus on learning a bit more about the possible VP Candidates, starting with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Jindal is the American born son of Indian immigrants. He's had a fairly successful career in politics, including being a Congressman and Governor of Louisiana, and he's barely 37 years old. So what are his policies and what would Gov. Jindal bring to the table for the McCain campaign in November?


For starters, Jindal would help bring the ultra-conservative right wing of the Republican party back to John McCain, who is often accused of being too liberal by this constituency. Gov. Jindal might be able to help fix all that. While McCain gets a rating of 66% from the National Right to Life Committee, a pro-life lobbying organization, Gov. Jindal scores a perfect 100%. On many of the issues McCain is shady on, Jindal is willing to tout the standard party line: Pro-guns, Pro-Life, against flag burning, in favor of making the patriot act permanent, against gay rights, tax reform, and others. He has the view that Intelligent design should be taught in public schools schools. His positions on these issues has ultra-conservatives chomping at the bit to get him on the ballot, with incredibly positive reviews from Americans for Tax Reform, the Catholic League, the Christian Coalition, and even Rush Limbaugh who called him "The next Ronald Reagan".

I seriously doubt that Gov. Jindal would be the next Reagan, but the comment does show how enamored conservatives have become with Bobby Jindal. It seems to me that if he doesn't get this nomination, he's on the fast track to becoming the Republican Obama, going from virtually unknown to national political superstar in only a few years. I don't agree with Jindal on many of his stances, but after seeing some clips of him, he does seem to share that Obama charm, and he has quite a resumé, most notably including the reform of Louisiana's Medicare system.

Some people worry that Jindal's lack of Federal experience will undermine the claims made by McCain about Obama's unpreparedness. Other's seem to believe that his youth will help ease the concerns about McCain's age. For me, it is a question of whether his ideas and experience in reducing the size of government and the corruption within it, which he has had some success with in Louisiana, is enough to make me forget that he is about as socially conservative as one can get. In my experience, albeit limited, is that regardless of political rhetoric the size and scope of government is going to increase, not the opposite. This was true even with Reagan who is lauded for being a small government advocate, yet still increased the size of government by 60%. If not even Reagan could do it as President, I wonder if Jindal would have any effect from the VP's office. So are promises of smaller government, which probably can't be delivered, worth promises of less civil liberties? On the other hand, having Jindal in the White House might help lead to alternatives in the National health care debate that don't include a complete socialization of our health systems.

Will Jindal be chosen? It seems likely right now that he will. He's been actively campaigning for McCain and there hasn't been much effort to quell the rumors of his selection. His selection would probably be a small victory for economic freedom, and a huge blow to civil liberties should he make it to the White House.