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| ashu |
Posted
on 21-Nov-03 05:47 AM
A few weeks ago, I had posted a small piece on Bobby Jindal, the 32-year-old Indian-American Hindu-turned-Christian political whiz-kid with a golden resume who was then running for the top office in the deep-south state of Louisiana.
He lost, but he made history anyway.
I don't share Jindal's politics, but am impressed with his meteoric rise in the American political scene.
oohi
" still traveling here and there"
ashu
********
Bobby Jindal brought Indian Americans to the forefront
Ela Dutt (IANS)
New York, November 19
If citizens around the US were listening closely enough on the night of November 15, they would have heard the collective sigh of disappointment that went up from the 1.6 million-strong Indian American community.
One among them, Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, had lost the Louisiana gubernatorial race, a race that had seemed impossible to win at the beginning, but in which victory seemed inevitable to many by the end.
Republican Jindal, the 32-year-old former Bush appointee, chucked his career in Washington to enter the quagmire of Louisiana politics.
Analysts there said this was the first time in the history of that state that the candidates vying for the runoff, Jindal and Democrat Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Blanco, were not smeared by dirty dealings, and Jindal especially was largely free of the baggage of past politics.
For Indian Americans, considering the fact that one of them had the courage to run from a deep-South state that had seen the likes of white supremacist David Duke, it was a victory, not just because Jindal lost by such a small margin, but because he brought the community to the forefront in national politics.
His candidacy brought attention from the national press, national parties, as well as main street America.
Now Indian Americans are not going to be known just for being doctors and engineers, or entrepreneurs, but also savvy politicians, some in the community believe.
After all, in the ultimate analysis, Jindal lost the race by four percent but he made history anyway when he won the open primary this October and fought a good fight against a veteran politician.
Louisiana ended up making history either way - Blanco became the first woman to become governor of the state.
For the former Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services, it was a tough and often acrimonious battle against Blanco.
And for Louisianans, it was a confusing choice as both candidates differed little on their conservative platform. But recent polls had shown Jindal in the lead as 12 percent of the voting public remained undecided on voting day.
A political analyst said: "It is a very common occurrence in this country that a minority candidate is leading in the race, but when it comes to the vote, it goes somewhere else. People don't voice their real views (to pollsters)."
Even though exact numbers are coming in the week after the election, Jindal's 48 percent and Blanco's 52 percent are being sliced up in different configurations by political analysts.
Though Jindal won the open primaries on October 4 with 33 percent of the vote, his gubernatorial victory was up in the air because Blanco's 18 percent was going to be shored up by 29 percent other Democratic candidates garnered the same day.
Also, the 30 percent African American vote, which was predominantly Democratic, seemed split between choosing a Democrat or a coloured person to occupy the governor's mansion. That convinced some savvy Louisiana analysts to think Jindal had the winning ticket.
In a virtual campaign blitzkrieg in the last two weeks, Jindal not only created history by getting major black endorsements such as those from the Black Organisation for Leadership Development, the Northern Louisiana Black Caucus, and CLOUT Ministerial Alliance, but campaign watchers said Jindal was the first Republican to make such an open and persistent effort to get black support.
Some within the community feel Jindal did not take enough advantage of his connections to the White House, others say he was not aggressive enough in countering Blanco's negative ads, and some Louisiana analysts believe it all finally came down to race - that some white Republicans who had voted heavily for President George W Bush did not support Jindal when it came to the crunch.
Yet others say it was Blanco's last-minute appeal made in last debate that turned the critical numbers.
This race could well be the subject of many Ph D theses in the months and years to come, but it also provides valuable lessons not just to Jindal's future political career, which everyone agrees, is only just beginning, but also to the Indian American political agendas.
He fought on a platform of getting out the old and bringing in the new brand of politics, focusing on economic development of a state that was losing jobs and business to surrounding states, losing its youth and showing poor education results.
Even after his defeat, New Orleans' Democratic mayor Ray Nagin, who had switched parties to endorse Jindal, said he was still not convinced about whether Blanco would be as good for his city's economy as Jindal would have been.
His campaign picked up a string of important endorsements from US Republican Congressmen as well as Louisiana politicians and conservative leaders in the last couple of weeks, and he ran a campaign like a pro garnering the votes of the religious conservatives as well as moderates.
"Political pundits said Bobby didn't have a chance. He proved them wrong. They are saying he's not going to win in November and he'll prove them wrong," Trey Williams, Jindal's spokesperson had said when he won the primary.
But it was not to be. THE END
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_464307,0005.htm
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| ssNY |
Posted
on 21-Nov-03 08:58 AM
After Gary Locke, a Chinese American, got elected in the state of Washington, it was quite gratifying to watch an Indian American, Jindal, run for governor in Louisana. Ah well, better luck next time.
As a matter of equal time policy, I thought I'll post the following from a Pakistani Paper. It is amusing to see the Pakistani's take on it. Needless to point out the animosity between these two countries.
__________________________________________________
Why Bobby Jindal did not make it
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: The Indian-American community is trying to put a good face on the defeat of Bobby Jindal, who, had he won, would have become the first Indian-American to become governor of a state.
The 32-year old whiz kid who was born six months after his parents migrated from India, ran for the governorship of the deep Southern state of Louisiana as a conservative Republican. Though favoured in polls and enjoying a clear lead 10 percent lead, he lost because he did not respond to his Democratic rival Kathleen Babineaux’s charge in the closing stages of the campaign that he, as head of the state’s healthcare department, had made large cuts adversely affecting the most vulnerable sections of the community.
Jindal became the darling of Indian-Americans across the country, not because of his illiberal and conservative views but because he was Indian by origin. Born a Hindu, he converted to Catholicism, though his parents still retain the religion they were born in. Thousands of dollars flowed into his campaign from Indian-Americans who felt that with his victory, the community would gain an even higher profile and greater political clout than it already has.
Jindal angered Pakistanis with his reference to terrorism and how it had found support in Pakistan. It is not clear how much money the Pakistanis contributed to the rival campaign but some money did find its way into Ms Babineaux’s election fund, contributed by Pakistanis. There were also appeals by a number of organisations of Pakistani-Americans calling on the community to work for Jindal’s defeat. While Jindal’s defeat – 48 percent against the winner’s 52 percent – has little to do with Pakistanis, there is much smug satisfaction among them at the outcome of the contest that became national news.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_18-11-2003_pg7_46
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| sandhyasharma |
Posted
on 21-Nov-03 07:30 PM
I felt so sad when Bobby Jindal lost.Not only I support him coz he is a south Asian but of his proven skills.How many Americans have achieved what he has achieved as such an young age?The loss is also due to bad feelings bertween Pakistani and Indians.Another factor is skin colour.The loss of Bobby Jindal clearly signifies that American Society is still apprehensive about being lead by the brown skinned guy irrespective of his ability and education and is very media driven,otherwise how could Arnold win who does not know ABC about politics win.
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| thugged out |
Posted
on 22-Nov-03 04:16 AM
Oh come on now, it has nothing to do with skin color. When you take a stance so far far away to the right, you are inevitably going to lose some support, even though Louisiana was known for almost have voted arch-conservative/white supremacist David Duke. Obviously, he is extremely smart, a Rhodes scholar as we all know, but only one's college resume isn't enough to win a gubernatorial race, because look the other candidate from the democratic party was *far* more experienced, while Bobby was nothing but an amateur. So, I did not really expect Bobby to win the race because he lacked in the experience department, and also because he almost sounded like a Bible thumping zealot.
But either way, I am happy that Blanco won, because she's a democrat..and I am a democrat...neocons have messed up this country, as we all know. You're all supporting Bobby only because he's a Republican, he's not someone to fawn all over anyway, just because he comes from the same region that we do. So, Blanco was, in my humble opinion, the better of the two, and she deserved to win. Either way, Lousiana made history...Blanco is the first female governor of that state, as we all know.
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| VincentBodega |
Posted
on 23-Nov-03 10:15 AM
Hello SadhyaSharma,
I hope your hero Mr. Bobby doesnt have even a percent of your thought factor. Do you even know what you are saying?
"I felt so sad when Bobby Jindal lost. Not only I support him coz he is a south Asian but of his proven skills."
Well doesnt this mean that you support him primarily of his Indian roots? Well if the answer is yes, how can you point fingers at people who claim as racist later in your discussion? funny how that works eh?
"How many Americans have achieved what he has achieved as such an young age?"
Doesnt matter, it takes ONE to defeat him, and I am sure you have seen his picture and heard his name if you were following the election. Again if you were to assign gov positions based on how quickly one achieves all these high fi degrees then I know of a dude whos doing his medicine and his just 12. why dont we make him the president. Pretty stupid eh? yeah thats how I thought about your reasonings too.
"The loss is also due to bad feelings bertween Pakistani and Indians."
Who the heck told him to label Pakis as terrorists. If you have to spit facing upwards you either dont spit at all and swallow it or you spit and have plans to move so that it doesnt fall on your face. Your "proven skilled" netaji seems to lack this common sense of a kid.
"Another factor is skin colour. The loss of Bobby Jindal clearly signifies that American Society is still apprehensive about being lead by the brown skinned guy irrespective of his ability and education and is very media driven,"
This is so dumb that even George W. Bush can make fun of you for this. Did you see the results? It was a close contested. Do you know the population distribution of the state of Louisiana? Look it up will ya...
"otherwise how could Arnold win who does not know ABC about politics win."
Ok I dont even know why you would ask a dumb question like this? The results are speaking for your conviction here. Theres a simple law in mathematics. You make a hypothesis and then you test it. If your result counters your hypothesis then its pretty clear that the hypothesis is wrong. and if you didnt get what I was trying to say... in simple terms, YOU ARE WRONG. seems like Arnold knows a lot about politics. He played his cards right and it paid off. Mr. Zindall didnt and he is gets the bench.
Can you digg it???
SandhyaSharma, if you are still trying to find out why Mr. Zindall didnt win. Its on the Washington Post article thats also posted on this thread. Look it up.
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