Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal got some airtime today, courtesy of Kathleen Parker. In the process, though, she pointed out the main reason for picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin over Gov. Jindal (in my book, anyway): the GOP really needs Gov. Jindal to stay in Louisiana for a while. Given the nature of the situation down there, his task in reforming Louisiana is a much longer-term one, and much more dependent on him. If Sen. McCain picks him, the Louisiana statehouse reverts to a Democrat who’ll abandon everything he’s been trying to accomplish; whereas if Gov. Palin is the nominee, her successor will be a Republican, most likely the state attorney general (since the lieutenant governor will probably be moving on himself, to the House of Representatives), who’s one of her own appointees. I continue to believe that Sen. McCain should name Gov. Palin his running mate and give Gov. Jindal the “Obama slot” at the national convention, thereby putting both of them on the national stage but leaving Gov. Jindal in place to do the work in Louisiana that badly needs doing.(Update: apparently Gov. Jindal thinks the same way; what both Kathleen Parker and I missed is that he’s taken himself out of the running, announcing he’s going to stay in Louisiana. That’s good, I think—as long as Gov. Palin can tamp out the fire in Alaska.)(Further update: here’s an excellent article from the Wall Street Journal on Gov. Palin’s spiritual journey from Hinduism to Catholicism. My thanks to James Grant for the link.)
