Has Bobby blown his chances for 2012?
Can Huntsman backers breathe a sign of relief?
The Fox News coverage of Bobby Jindal’s response to Obama’s big speech overnight says it all. The 37 year old Oxford alumnus who had risen sharply to become the Republicans great hope had the national spotlight on him when he came to give his party’s response.
This was a great opportunity for the young man whose parents arrived in the US as immigrants from India shortly before he was born. And judging by the reaction of the pundits Jindal got it wrong and there’s little doubt that his 2012 chances look a lot thinner today than they did last night.
As one critic, quoted by Alex Massie in the Spectator put it: “”He sounds totally artificial. He sounds like a televangelist.”
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And having watched Jindal in action it’s hard to come to any other conclusion. Jindal is not the man to take on Barack Obama in three and a half years time.
Which should all be good news for John Huntsman – the governor of Utah whose efforts have been gathering momentum at quite a pace and who was tipped here when he was at 200/1.