New Governor
Erik Miller
Erik
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Randy Cresap
Katrina, people have been kicking themselves for letting Blanco edge
him out.
He has widespread support across the state and a mandate for reform.
Jindal is seen as Louisiana's "savior." I don't think the legislature
is dumb enough to be completely uncooperative with him. If anything,
they'll get into subtle battles and try to cast him as an ineffective
Buddy Roemer reformer. Luckily, though, the political climate has
changed since the early 90's and most people seem to be hungry for
change / competent leadership.
I have been very impressed with Jindal's political skill in the
campaign. If this were 4 years ago, I think he'd run into problems
getting things done. As it stands now, I'm pretty confident that
we'll get somewhere.
Remember, there really is no organized opposition to him - there was
no real opposing candidate, and since he didn't run as a partisan, and
has stayed out of other races, there's nothing for people to oppose
aside from his platform -- and who's going to stand in the way of an
ethics reform package? I think there's so much thirst for reform that
it's going to be very hard for anyone to stand in the way, there's the
sense that the issues are too important for stupid political games.
The national spin / reporting on the election has been far more
partisan than the actual election and the issues raised in it.
On another note, as someone who has gotten on national news channels
(primarily Fox) for distorting information, I am sick of reading the
New York Times talk about this state liek it's some wasteland of
racism and corruption. First, the misinformation about the Jena 6
"controversy" -- I still don't quite understand what the problem is.
6 kids stomped another kid unconscious. He showed symptoms of brain
injury / concussion. That is, by definition, aggravated battery. The
linkage to nooses three months prior to that -- not a crime, by the
way -- was concocted when the public relations blitz began. Of course,
the kid beaten while unconscious had nothing to do with the nooses.
Naturally, national news ooutlets have picked up the story, misreport
the basic facts of the whole thing, and then smooth it all over by
simply vaguely referring to "racial overtones" or "racial controversy"
-- without actually saying specifically what the issue is. This is
Terry Schiavo and the Iraq invasion yet again.
Now, there are all of these stories about Bobby Jindal -- and the
almost disbelief that a "non-white" could be elected here when
everybody knows that Louisiana is a state full of Boss Hoggs, David
Duke pictures hang on every kitchen wall, and we all drag nooses
behind our pickup trucks for a good time on Saturday nights. The
latest story by Adam Nossiter takes this tone -- how come a non-white
governor is being elected in Louisiana? There must be some catch --
there must be some story as to how he got elected in such a racist
state.
Note -- "only the first nonwhite governor in Louisiana since the
1870s" How many nonwhite governors have there been in the history of
this country? Three. Two in this century, one from Louisiana in the
1870s. None of whom have been from New York. Yet the article intones
that somehow Louisiana is special for NOT having had a nonwhite
governor to this point.
Instead of trying to find a story that tries to find the explanation
of how a nonwhite could possibly be elected in this den of bigotry,
maybe Louisiana isn't as backwards as New York would like to think?
Maybe Louisianians vote on the issues, not race, and the reason that
an African-American candidate hasn't been elected to the governorship
is because only the ones who promote African American interests over
statewide interests can get enough political support to become a major
candidate?
In summary, nonwhite governors -- LA -- 2 NY -- 0
female governors -- La-- 1 NY -- 0
minority mayors -- BR - 1 NYC - 0
NO -- multiple NYC -- 0
Shouldn't we be asking instead why LA is one of the few with minority
politicians in positions of leadership, instead of expressing surprise
that it happened in Louisiana?
Thomas Stuckey
cma...@hotmail.com
such a divisive issue in this country is because the supposed bastions
of liberalism and open-mindedness, like the New York Times keep making
it an issue in order to sell more newspapers. Meanwhile, The
Alexandria Town Talk, in podunk, redneck, racist Alexandria, Louisiana
was the only newspaper that cut through Al Sharpton and Jesse
Jackson's miles and miles of bullshit and actually reported the facts
about the Jena 6.... that the Michal Bell kid, who was the poster
child for this supposed miscarriage of justice, had been before a
judge in juvenile court four times before, twice for assault, once for
punching a 17-year old girl in the face. Perhaps the district attorney
understood that sending this kid to a juvenile court for the fifth
time amounted to judicial pissing in the wind. Maybe he needs to be
treated like an adult and especially like a criminal. Especially since
when six kids gang up on another kid, push him to the ground and kick
him until he bleeds out of his ears, it is not a simple "school yard
fight" as his mother and the leaders of these ridiculous marches
against injustice would have us believe. It stops just short of being
a lynching.
It boggles my mind that the focus on Jindal is his race. Why isn't the
focus on his Harvard education or his extensive background in
government affairs or the fact that he kept Louisiana's medicare and
medicaid programs from going completely bankrupt when corrupt doctors
and billers were milking the systems for all their worth? Why hasn't
the focus been on the fact that he did his best to keep the Louisiana
University System from collapsing under its own corruption, bloat and
lack of standards and even made some of those schools respectable on a
national academic stage? Why hasn't the focus been on the fact that he
is a two-term Congressman from a southern state who ran as a
republican in districts that were predominantly democrat and garnered
enough respect to win by more than 70 percent and 80 percent in the
two elections? He may not be the oldest or the most experienced
Louisiana politician, but that is not necessarily a bad thing in this
state, or any other state, or even on a national level. He is a hard
worker. He is honest. He is extremely smart. Pretty good combination
no matter what color his skin.
love,
mac
Randy Cresap
primary -- there was such unified support for a 36 year old reform /
outsider / nonestablishment candidate. I.e., Louisiana voters
desperately want a break from the past, and have finally
overwhelmingly been able to muster enough political support to do it.
Now if they can just get the Orleans Parish exceptions out of the
state constitution...
Chris Macaluso
sorry for the error.
mac
> Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 16:13:27 -0500
> From: rtcr...@gmail.com
> To: hol...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: [Holiday's] Re: New Governor
Scott Alister McKinley
about Jindal for governor. Randy, I completely agree about the
covereage. The AP story in particular was dripping in condescension
without the least bit of self-awareness about how white and male
governors are in most non-Southern states as well.
Do you have a reference about there only being three non-white
governors though? Is Bill Richardson really the only non-Louisiana
non-white governor in US history?
Having said the above, I'd like to through some water on some on
notion that Jindal built some great Consensus. In addition to him
being a strong candidate, two major factors lead to the blow-out
victory.
First, the prospect that John Breaux might run kept all of the
front-line Democratic candidates out of the race. If it had been
known a year ago that Breaux would eventually be disqualified for
residency requirements, then I think at least Mitch Landrieu would
have run. (btw, I still would have supported Jindal if Landrieu would
have run, but I'm certain there would have been a run-off).
Second, Jindal doesn't win on the first day if Orleans Parish has the
numbers it had four years ago. In fact, had Orleans Parish not
overwhelmingly picked Blanco, Jindal would have won last time. A
classic example of, "sometimes you get what you ask for."
Anyway, Breaux would have been my first choice, but I'm glad that
Jindal won. Though he makes me uncomfortable the way he panders to the
religious Right, he seems too competent to let that get in the way of
actually running the state well.
-- Scott
Randy Cresap
Hispanics, no, there's also Bill Richardson (and no one else as far as
I know, but I don't know where to find the info) -- that's one more
unless there are other Hispanic governors. Is it skin color or
ethnicity?
I am also not counting Hawaii, as I'm sure there are some Hawaiian
governors (elected by the ethnic South Pacific / Asian majority).
As far as brown skin color goes, in addition to the one from
Reconstruction in Louisiana (Pinchback), there have been two other
African American governors (one formerly from Virginia (Wilder), one
currently from Massachusetts (Patrick)) and the Indian-American
Jindal. So aside from Hawaii, three plus Jindal if you don't include
Hispanics, four plus Jindal (that I know of) if you do. It should be
noted that in New Mexico (Richardson), whites do not form an ethnic
majority.
Scott, I appreciate the suspicion that Jindal is pandering to the
religious right -- but I've seen nothing to suggest that his faith
isn't authentic, and I wouldn't assume that his abortion stance is
"pandering," or even his views on intelligent design, as much as I
disagree with him. If you read some of his religious writings from
10-15 years ago, it's pretty plain that he is very committed to being
a Catholic. "Pandering" suggests that there's some cynicism in what
he's saying.
As far as a consensus goes, when have you seen a Louisiana politician
win 60 / 64 parishes by a wide margin across the entire state? He did
well in north LA, south LA, cities, and in rural parishes, and beat
his nearest competitor by 36 percentage points. I call that a
consensus. As to what the people were voting for is the question.
Whether or not there is a consensus is different from how that
consensus was achieved.
I would have voted against Breaux, and I think Jindal would have beat
him in a runoff. Part of the big appeal of Jindal is the "break" with
the past -- people don't believe that he is part of the institution.
Breaux is politically connected and powerful in Washington and in
Louisiana -- the type of "winking" politician that Louisiana voters
appear to be tired of. I, at least, get the sense that they want
somebody competent, direct, above politics, and above-board -- not
another insider who's a professional lobbyist and a pro at back-room
deals.
Scott Alister McKinley
The citizenry of Louisiana has all the hallmarks of an abusive
relationship with its politicians -- forever caught in a cycle of sin
and redemption.
Today we have redemption, but as you well know, the last two reform
candidates, Buddy Roemer and Dave Treen, squandered all their
political momentum on failed reform measures, were forced from office
in one term, and the state went running back into the arms of Edwin
Edwards.
Say what you will about John Breaux. He would have secured the
funding for coastal wetland restoration, and he would have negotiated
a better deal for Louisiana in oil and natural gas royalties. In the
long run, these are Louisiana's two great necessities.
I do hold out hope for Bobby Jindal because he has a proven government
management record. I just sure do hope Edwards is still in jail four
years from now. :-)
-- Scott
on another note, people defend Jindal's nods to the Right because they
say he's a true believer. Is this really a defense? Isn't it actually
worse if he truly thinks science textbooks should teach Intelligent
Design?
Randy Cresap
intelligent design, which is a federal constitutional issue. Let's
get someone who can make the government function, I'll worry about
flag burning and God later.
Since clean government is "the" issue, whether or not he is a
hypocrite is more important than whether nor he is religious.
Just my $0.02
Not saying Breaux wouldn't do a good job, it's just in my opinion
Louisiana needs a cultura change, and however good of a politician
Breaux is, that's one thing he just can't deliver.