NEWS AND OPINION:
He’s in the 2016 race whether his critics like it or not. “It’s easy to talk about the mess that President Obama has made of our country. Every American knows about it, and every Republican candidate talks about it. That’s not even half of what we should expect of the next president. We owe voters more than just a tirade about the problem - we owe them honesty about our solution.” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal told his fans upon announcing Wednesday that he was firing up his bid for the White House.
The news drew contrasting reactions, particularly since the tenacious Mr. Jindal is not doing so well in the ratings race, registering as low as 1 percent in a new CNN poll that includes his many GOP rivals.
“Is Bobby Jindal just getting started or already finished?” demanded a National Journal headline. “Lucky number 13?” asked MSNBC, noting that Mr. Jindal is, indeed, the 13th Republican hopeful to step forward onto the 2016 campaign trail.
But he has his admirers.
“Bobby Jindal is the smartest candidate in the room on the most important domestic issue of our time, which is health care. He brings executive experience and he has one helluva immigrant story to share. Here’s hoping Bobby Jindal runs a bold campaign with a bold agenda that puts Washington, D.C. on trial,” says David Bozell, president of ForAmerica, a grassroots organization promoting values and limited government.
“We’re excited. During his tenure as governor of Louisiana, Jindal has been a bold advocate for ideas with a strong grasp on policy. He is a fearless leader, which he has demonstrated by aggressively fighting Common Core and by being an outspoken advocate on issues of life, marriage, and religious liberty,” says Frank Cannon, president of American Principles in Action, a non-profit that supports founding American tenets.
“We look forward to hearing more from Gov. Jindal, and we hope he is able to participate in the presidential debates, as he will add needed substance to the national conversation,” Mr. Cannon adds.
The Democratic National Committee, meanwhile, has already declared that Mr. Jindal’s campaign is “doomed” and that he’s a failure, or words to that effect.
But the governor appears to be in for the long march, no matter what, with a logo that includes a cheerful red, white and blue “J.” Mr. Jindal begins his campaign tour Thursday with five national broadcast interviews before 8:30 a.m. before departing for New Hampshire - to arrive in Iowa 24 hours later.
AND IN SUMMATION
“We have officially reached peak leftism. A progressive panic attack begins as the Obama era wanes,” declares Kevin D. Williamson, roving correspondent for National Review.
“If it seems to you that the Left has, collectively, lost its damned mind as the curtain rises on the last act of the Obama administration, you are not imagining things. Barack Obama has been extraordinarily successful in his desire to - what was that phrase? - fundamentally transform the country, but the metamorphosis is nonetheless a good deal less than his congregation wanted and expected. We may have gone from being up to our knees in welfare-statism to being up to our hips in it, and from having a bushel of banana-republic corruption and incompetence to having a bushel and a peck of it, but the United States of America remains, to the Left’s dismay, plainly recognizable as herself beneath the muck,” Mr. Williamson observes.
NOT SO KEEN ON SOCIALISTS
Not the greatest news for Sen. Bernie Sanders here, the self-described socialist and Vermont independent running for president as a Democrat. A socialist candidate, in fact, comes in last in a Gallup poll gauging Americans acceptance of an assortment of ethnic, religious and ideological persuasions.
“Despite tidal shifts over the past 60 years in Americans’ willingness to support a well-qualified black, female, Catholic or Jewish candidate for president to the point that these are now widely accepted, significant segments of Americans still don’t endorse candidates who are gay or lesbian, evangelical Christian, Muslim, atheist or socialist,” reports Gallup analyst Lydia Saad.
“No more than three in four Americans say they would vote for candidates from any of these backgrounds. However, that support differs sharply by Americans’ religious affiliation.”
Indeed, while 47 percent of Americans would consider voting for a socialist presidential candidate, only 28 percent of Protestants would concur - compared to 74 percent of those with “no religion.” More numbers in the Poll du Jour at column’s end.
THE LADIES PUSH BACK
Young conservative women will be out in force on Thursday in the nation’s capital for the NeW Conference - a two-day summit that has drawn lawmakers, journalists, policy experts, authors and activists - all “women on the right” eager for grassroots training and insight into conservative policy. “NeW” in this case stands for “network of enlightened women,” the organization says.
“Now more than ever, our country needs bright, dedicated, young women to come to the conversation with fresh ideas,” says Rep. Martha Roby, who will appear at the event, along with Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. The agenda includes such topics as “Countering the Left’s empty promises,” “Building and balancing fulfilling lives” and a forum with Kirsten Powers, author of “The Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech.”
“The popularity of this conference sends a strong message that young women are searching for conservative alternatives to what is often promoted by the media and in campus culture,” says Alyssa Condrey, director of programs for the organization.
FOX NEWS GETS SIRIUS
A strategic alliance of note: SiriusXM and FOX News have launched FOX News Headlines 24/7, a new national headline news service and full-time satellite radio channel to go on the air in autumn. Fox News is the source; Jay Wallace, senior vice president of news at the network, will oversee operations which includes input from FOX News, FOX Business Network, FOX News Radio, Foxnews.com, and Foxbusiness.com
Management is happy, including CEO Roger Ailes, who touts both his network’s reliability and the public trust in it.
“FOX News has the credibility and expertise to develop a channel unlike anything else in radio - that no competitor can match,” says Scott Greenstein, president of SiriusXM.
POLL DU JOUR
74 percent of Americans say they would vote for a gay or lesbian presidential candidate; 62 percent of Protestants, 82 percent of Catholics and 92 percent of those with “no religion” agree.
73 percent of Americans overall say they would vote for an evangelical Christian presidential candidate; 82 percent of Protestants, 72 percent of Catholics and 57 percent of those with “no religion” agree.
60 percent overall say they would vote for Muslim presidential candidate; 44 percent of Protestants, 69 percent of Catholics and 82 percent of those with “no religion” agree.
58 percent overall say they would vote for an atheist presidential candidate; 47 percent of Protestants, 58 percent of Catholics and 1 percent of those with “no religion” agree.
47 percent overall say they would vote for a socialist presidential candidate; 28 percent of Protestants, 46 percent of Catholics and 74 percent of those with “no religion” agree.
Source: A Gallup poll of 1,527 U.S. adults conducted June 2-7 and released Tuesday.
Murmurs and asides to jharper@washingtontimes.com
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.