Bobby Jindal’s 4 Goals If He Wins the White House
Ken McIntyre /
He is prone to go on with a policy wonk’s enthusiasm for the subject at hand, but Bobby Jindal joined the Republican race for president with a speech that boiled down a four-point agenda into 54 words.
“We’ve had enough of talkers, it’s time for a doer,” @BobbyJindal says.
If elected president, the Louisiana governor said in winding up his announcement speech late Wednesday afternoon, he’ll have four objectives:
- “I will secure our borders.”
- “I will replace Obamacare with a health care system that focuses on reducing costs and restoring freedom.”
- “I will grow the private sector economy by shrinking the size, scope, and reach of the federal government.”
- “And I will rebuild America’s defenses and restore our standing on the world stage.”
Before reaching the simplicity of those goals, Jindal, 44, gave supporters a rousing address at Ponchartrain Center in Kenner, La. The speech cast him as a defender of religious liberty, an unblinking foe of radical Islam, a leader in the school choice movement, and a reviver of the American dream.
As he became the 13th and youngest Republican candidate for president, the two-term congressman turned two-term governor got right to the point with his opening line:
“My name is Bobby Jindal, I am the governor of the great state of Louisiana, and I am running for president of the greatest country in the world—the United States of America.”
If you are chasing a dream and looking for a land where the people are free, and the opportunities are real, I’m asking you to believe.
— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) June 24, 2015
Jindal, whose parents immigrated to Louisiana from India the year he was born, segued from a summary of his family’s story to a recitation of his accomplishments as a budget-cutting governor, then said:
It’s time for the folks in Washington to admit the truth: You can’t grow the economy and the government at the same time. … The Democrats evaluate success in terms of the prosperity of government. We define success in terms of the prosperity of our people. …
The United States of America was made great by people who get things done. Not lots of talk or entertaining speeches. To be sure, there are a lot of great talkers running for president already. But none of them, not one, can match our record of actually shrinking the size of government. If great speeches helped our country, we would be on easy street right now. …
We’ve had enough of talkers, it’s time for a doer. I’m not running for president to be somebody, I’m running for president to do something.
A transcript of Jindal’s complete remarks can be found here and C-SPAN’s video of his speech here.
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