Jindal surprised many last week when he gave a strong speech at the Values Voters Summit in Washington. The half-hour address drew both laughs and strong applause from the social conservatives gathered, and Jindal showed a dynamic style as he paced across the stage.
His talk weaved parts of Jindal’s biography, including a humorous story about how he ended up delivering his third child in his and his wife’s bedroom, but as also peppered with plenty of conservative red meat and criticism of President Obama.
To GOP voters primarily familiar with Jindal thanks to his disastrous rebuttal to President Obama’s first primetime address back in 2009, the governor’s different tenor was a shock.
“It was ‘Wow, I didn’t realize he was so strong,’” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.
“Most people weren’t even considering him, and after they heard him, they see he has a future,” Perkins, himself a Louisiana native, added.
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