absolutely no interest … I’m not a candidate … I will not be a candidate …” are all politicianese for “Yes.” If Jindal really doesn’t want to run for Senate, he must be determined to sacrifice all to run for president (and, alternatively, hope for a VP nod) in 2016. If he did that, and managed to get a few delegates, he might also have a shot in 2020. Failing that, the only option I can see is that he already has a cushy D.C. lobbying job waiting for him, which would mean he could quit spending his weekends raising money and start spending his weekends counting money.
How Did I Miss Perfection?
Restless Leg Syndrome?
Recently President Barack Obama invited former president George H.W. Bush [the first President Bush] to a publicly viewed meeting at the White House. Certainly it was a kind gesture. But I wondered whether it was all on the up and up. For instance, in his speech about G.H.W. Bush, Obama said the former president sparked a “national movement” to advance volunteerism and community service. There was no national movement to advance volunteerism and community service. And if there had been such a movement, it wouldn’t have had anything to do with George H.W. Bush. Obama continued to slather it on: “You’ve described for us those thousand points of light — all the people and organizations spread out all across the country who are like stars brightening the lives of those around them.” Of course, we never needed G.H.W. Bush to inform us that thousands of individuals and organizations in the U.S. do volunteer work. There comes a point when polite flattery turns into ignoble sycophancy. Here is that point: Obama said to Bush, “But given the humility that’s defined your life, I suspect it’s harder for you to see something that’s clear to everybody else around you, and that’s how bright a light you shine … We are surely a kinder and gentler nation because of you.” “The humility that’s defined your life?” He’s a former Texas oil man, CIA head, and president and vice president. How humble can he be? “How bright a light you shine?” Is he an ex-president or a carbon arc searchlight? “We are surely a kinder and gentler nation because of you.” Saints a-mighty! What’s the evidence for that claim? Bush is probably not long for this world, and Obama may just be trying to get a jump on the inevitable media rush to canonize a dead president. Obama is blatant and clumsy in the way he does it. But I’m not sure it’s a clumsiness anyone will notice. NBC News political reporter Michael O’Brien also tried to get in on the coming media blitz when he nonchalantly wrote that the White House meeting “recognized [G.H.W. Bush’s] legacy of charity and altruism.” I’m not trying to dump on the first ex-president Bush, who I believe was above-average for a president (in stark contrast to his son). I’m just wondering what sort of “political continued
August 1, 2013
LAGNIAPPE
7