Bobby Jindal Should Not be Tapped as a Running Mate

As John McCain starts looking for a Vice-Presidential candidate there is constant speculation as to who the candidate should be by the media, blogs and of course all of us writing for Associated Content. In that process there are a lot of names that come up that create a buzz. Someone out of nowhere that is seemingly the right answer to Senator's Clinton or Obama. One such name that has generated such buzz is Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. While his potential candidacy does bring up some interesting possibilities, he is too much of a long shot to be the nominee for a couple of reasons: his youth, his lack of support for McCain until recently, his inexperience and his dedication to the state of Louisiana.

Bobby Jindal is just too young

According to a Wall Street Journal article, Bobby Jindal is only 36 years old. While McCain does want someone younger to combat the fact that he will turn 72 before the election, he also needs someone who can step into the presidency if he should die in office. Will the people really feel that a 36 year old can take the place of an experienced war veteran of 72? What will probably happen is a lot of comparisons to Dan Quayle. And if you remember any of the skits from Saturday Night Live regarding Dan Quayle (having pre-teens playing Quayle for example) this is not a good thing. As the National Review Online points out, it would be silly of Democrats to try and paint him as such, but it won't be the Democrats who do this, but the comedy acts that love this sort of thing. Can you imagine the fun that SNL or the Daily Show would have with this? That is something that McCain cannot afford. He needs someone youthful, but not THAT youthful.

Lack of Support for McCain

On Monday March 3rd, Bobby Jindal endorsed John McCain for the Presidency AFTER he had wrapped up the nomination for the Presidency according to an Associated Press article. This is important because of loyalty. When looking at an ABC News article, McCain wants to pick someone he likes and has supported him for some time (someone like Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota for example), not someone who is supporting him after he won the nomination. While this was probably done because Jindal didn't want to offend anyone, it hurts his chances to become the nominee since McCain is probably going to pick someone who has been supporting him for longer than 2 weeks.

Lack of Experience

While I don't think that experience is a big issue when determining a candidate, McCain wants to be able to contrast his experience with the lack of experience of Obama if he is the candidate for the Democrats. If Jindal is picked as the Vice-Presidential nominee, a lot of McCain's attacks against Obama could backfire because of McCain's age. Remember, since McCain will be 72, the chance that he might die in office will be brought up a lot and so the VP candidate will be scrutinized to see if they are ready to step in as his replacement. If McCain is constantly saying that Obama is too inexperienced to be President, what will he say when asked about Jindal's lack of experience? This creates a huge problem and is another reason why he won't be picked.

Louisiana

One of the major reasons why Jindal will not be looked at however is because of Louisiana. A Sify article states that he has only been the Governor since January and he needs to show how he can govern that state. The article points out that it is one of the most corrupt states in the United States and he is trying to clean it up. Jindal has stated that he has a dedication to the state of Louisiana and he wants to keep to that commitment. He's quoted as saying "it is my responsibility to work with the legislature and the voters."

Conclusion

While Jindal does have a lot of great qualities, there are just too many problems with his candidacy at this point. I think in 4 or 8 years, he would make a very compelling candidate depending on how well his term as governor goes in Louisiana. He's very intelligent, has good conservative credentials, comes from an Indian background to show diversity in the GOP and is young. So, if the GOP is smart, they will wait to tap Jindal as a candidate until he gets a little more experience.

Gerald Seib; "Scanning for a GOP Running Mate"; The Wall Street Journal Online

Jim Geraghty, "Against Obama, McCain has more veep options"; The National Review Online

Associated Press; "Jindal Endorses McCain for President"; KSLA News

John Cochran; "Vice Presidential Stakes High for McCain"; ABC News

No Author Cited; "McCain will not ask me to be running mate: Jindal"; Sify.com