Washington, Feb.27 (ANI): Louisiana Governor Piyush 'Bobby' Jindal's Republican response to President Barack Obama's address to the joint session of the US Congress has been universally panned.
What was meant to be a coming out celebration on the national stage, however, turned to something far different for Jindal.
Jindal's address was expected to generate momentum for a possible 2012 presidential run, but according to CBS, it instead resulted in questions about whether the 37-year-old governor is really ready for prime time.
Many of the most stinging barbs came from Jindal's ideological brethren. Consider these comments from a Fox News panel right after the speech:
"This was not Bobby Jindal's greatest oratorical moment."
"The delivery was not exactly terrific."
"I think he had a really poor performance tonight...it just came off as amateurish."
"Even the tempo in which he spoke seemed like sing-song, and he was telling stories that seemed very simplistic, and almost childish."
"He tried the best he could."
Then there was the response from center-right New York Times columnist David Brooks, who said this:
"To come up at this moment in history with a stale, government-is-the-problem, we can't trust the federal government - it's just a disaster for the Republican Party.
The country is in a panic now. They may not like the way the Democrats have passed the stimulus bill, but the idea that government is going to have no role, that the federal government has no role in this, in a moment when only the federal government is big enough to actually do stuff - to just ignore all that, and just say government is a problem, corruption, earmarks, wasteful spending, it's just a form of nihilism. It's just not where the country is. It's not where the future of the country is."
...I think it's insane. I just think it's a disaster for the party.
"Honestly, the Republican response to Barack Obama's first State Of The Union was to invoke government failure during Katrina as a model for how to move forward as a country.
I know that I am paid to talk for a living, I am incapable of doing what I am paid to do right now. I am absolutely stunned," said MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.
Her MSNBC colleague Chris Matthews was more direct in his assessment of Jindal as he emerged to give the speech: "Oh, God."
State Of The Union responses often fall flat - the speaker is following the grand spectacle of a dramatic speech to Congress, punctuated by applause and standing ovations, with an awkward, audience-free address directly to a camera - but the strength of the negative response to Jindal's effort is almost unprecedented.
It remains to be seen to what degree the fallout from Jindal's response will impact his standing among Republicans. (ANI)
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