Louisiana Governor Bob Jindal responded to Obama's speech fairly negatively, although he pointed out some interesting aspects of Obama's proposed package. Jindal did a good job at pointing out some of the possible pork barreling within the package, such as $8 billion in high-speed rail projects, $300 million to buy new government cars, and $140 million for spending on volcano monitoring. As much as I am a firm believer that Obama's package will greatly improve our problems, Jindal makes a good point. However, Jindal's assertions seemed a bit nit-picky and childish to me. He never really addressed any of Obama's stronger points, just those that tended to drag behind the proposed package as seemingly arbitrary additions.
Newsworthy on this Wednesday Afternoon
2 hours ago
4 comments:
this is it? this is the great revamping of the republican party? to do the same thing over again and split based on ideology and just nay say despite what the country wants? i can understand their fears of big government but this is ridiculous! it's turning into paranoia. Politicians like Bobby Jindal seem like they're hoping the plan fails just so they have an oppurtunity to get on top again to reinstate their policies. But their policies are partly why we need a stimulus package in the first place. I can understand their fear of big government, but I can't understand their desire to deny a majority of the population what they need and want. When the people of a country are falling into desperation the government should offer a hand, not run the other way. There's a distinct difference between big government that becomes more involved to help and big government that becomes involved to preserve itself. The big government of Obama will be the former...and pork barreling? sure, pork looks bad on paper, but it provides thousands of jobs to those in need of them. They vamp up our infrastructure and well...keep volcanoes from...melting...people. But the point being that pork seems bad on paper because it seems like wasting money, but in the grand scheme of things it helps every taxpayer more because it gets money flowing again. alright, I'm done with my rant.
Why is the majority the be all end all?
Do you agree with prop 8 because the majority of california voted for it?
Personally, I don't want the masses telling me how to run my life, no matter how big their majority is.
Also the government may expand under the pretense of helping others (it actually inadvertently does the opposite), but you can be sure it is always helping itself.
I must say first that I am quite biased towards the left... Anyways, although Jindal must have his reasons for believing so, I certainly don't think Obama is wrong to increase government spending. Sure the Republican way of improving the economy may work, but it won't work quick enough to satisfy us. If the problem with the economy is to get solved quicker, I think Obama is more on the right track.
Also about the volcano monitoring thing... maybe they are paranoid about this http://armageddononline.tripod.com/volcano.htm . I think it's exaggerating, but I guess the government thinks we should be cautious (proof that they do care for our well-being).
If Bobby Jindal is the future of the Republican Party, the Republicans will never hold high office in the next couple of decades. While he is a bit smarter than someone like Sarah Palin, his speech made absolutely no sense. Yes, Republicans like small government, we get that. But, cutting taxes does NOT stimulate the economy. If wealthy business owners suddenly get more money, they are not going to hire more workers, they are going to use it as a lifeboat in case their company goes under in the next few months.
Jindal also attacked "pork" like purchasing cars and volcano monitoring programs. First of all, wouldn't buying cars help a certain industry...what is it?...oh...right...the CAR INDUSTRY!!!! How is this not helpful? And, to paraphrase Mr. Silton, are hurricanes the only natural disaster Republicans like Jindal want to protect against? And besides, that money is still being spent employing people and purchasing goods; again, this stimulates the economy.
While I agree with Ballin4life that the majority is not always right when it comes to these matters, surely it is clear that Americans want and need a stimulus. If Jindal were in power, I can only conclude that he would simply throw up his hands and leave us floundering. Leader, he is not.
Finally, I was expecting Jindal to be very impressive. I've heard of him, but didn't know too much about him before last night. I can only conclude now that he a misguided conservative populist who thinks Americans have the IQ of kindergartners. I've never seen a politician speak in such a patronizing tone before. God help us all if we have to listen to him as a presidential candidate everyday in four years.
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