His three bullet points about what to do going forward are boilerplate, unfortunately. The more interesting stuff comes halfway through when he talks about supporting Obama and using the states — momentarily the last bastions of GOP rule — as laboratories for experimenting with new conservative policies. Although, with The One and a blue Congress now in charge, I wonder how much decentralized power there’ll be by 2012. Jindal’s hinting, I take it, at some sort of Romneyesque state health-care plan in Louisiana, but what happens if/when the feds pass something at the national level?
All of his media appearances require horserace speculation so let’s hop to it. Assume that Obama has at least middling success in his first term, leaving him primed for reelection thanks to his incumbency and fundraising advantages. Whom do we sacrifice as his opponent? We’ll want someone who isn’t too young lest the taint of defeat spoil their careers, so Jindal and Palin are out. We’ll want someone who isn’t too closely tied to the “old” GOP lest the party’s passé image persist, so Gingrich is out. We’ll want someone whom we wouldn’t mind seeing win in a huge upset, so Huckabee is out. Which means … the choice is clear. There can be only one.
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