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The Spectacle Blog
A year ago, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal gave the Republican response to Obama’s first state of the union address. Famously, it was a disaster for Jindal. He looked and sounded like Kenneth the Page, cracked feeble jokes that later haunted him, and generally undermined his image.
Leading into his speech, he was widely viewed as the GOP’s own Obama, and was all over the news — among other things, he was getting national attention for refusing stimulus money that he thought would be counterproductive. Jindal was widely considered one of the best, if not the very best GOP 2012 candidate for president.
At the time I would not have thought it possible that Jindal could shoot himself in the foot so badly that he would feel compelled to spend a year scaling back his national profile-raising activities. But here we are a year later, and outside of a minor outcry about his use of helicopters to attend church, he’s mostly faded into the woodwork.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell is slated to give the Republican response tonight, and apparently he’s already learned one key lesson from Jindal’s debacle. He’s going to avoid Jindal’s mistake of speaking from an awkward standing position in the governor’s mansion, and instead speak in front of 300 supporters in the Virginia House of Delegates. It’s hard to compete with the full Congress assembled on Capitol Hill, but 300 people in the legislative building is much better than addressing no one while standing sheepishly in an empty hallway in the governor’s mansion.
Improving the setting is a start, but I wonder why McDonnell chose to deliver the address at all. The president’s state of the union matters no matter what his presentation, because he announces an agenda that he can actually shape. The responding speaker’s words, however, can’t possibly be as meaningful and are mostly restricted to complaints. McDonnell’s seen the downside risks, thanks to Jindal. The upsides are increased national exposure and a chance to counter the president’s new talking points. Is it worth it?
View all comments (10) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Joseph Lawler
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/01/27/mcdonnell-and-the-sotu-respons
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Ken (Old Texican)| 1.27.10 @ 6:01PM
Mr. Lawler,
I would be downright dangerous in my response speech. Hmmm where to begin?????
"(Belly laugh)..."Ladies and gentlemen, please forgive me...but I can't get over it.
Evidently, President Obama's teleprompter went insane tonight. You may have noticed his military aide sprinting for the exit with the "football".
Ahhhhh...for those of you who do not know...that is where the nuclear codes are kept at the President's finger-tips.
When he began discussing the "nuclear option" on health-care reform, evidently is when the teleprompter malfunctioned.
The entire House chamber was evacuated before the dumb sock-puppet realized what he was actually saying.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are truly NOT under nuclear attack......"
OKOK...Mr. Lawler. I will behave now....but wouldn't an off the wall approach like that...in jest...be just hilarious?
Pete| 1.27.10 @ 6:03PM
If the Mocha Messiah insists on telling the people yet again that they are too stupid to know that what he is trying to do is for their own good, then I think it is well worth it. What an easy speech to give and what a simple way to garner fervent national support (a-la-Mr. Brown). He just has to have the balls to call Osama the progressive elitist liar that he so clearly is.
Skeptic| 1.27.10 @ 7:08PM
Wasn't Obama's SOTU-ish speech a year ago not actually billed as a SOTU? Something like a major address to Congress, I think.
Franklin| 1.27.10 @ 7:08PM
I'm sure we are all tired of listening to speeches, but one by someone that makes sense would be so refreshing!
I can just imagine the venom spewed by the likes of Olbermann after listening to some sanity. He hasn’t had a foam-at-the-mouth moment since … um … yesterday!
Kate| 1.28.10 @ 6:16AM
I look forward to your comments now that he has given his response. I thought he was fantastic.
Pingback| 1.28.10 @ 2:40PM
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