Barack Obama: meet Piyush Jindal

Hey, we've got a skinny young guy with a funny sounding name too!

Bobby Jindal (Piyush Jindal at birth) is the current Governor of Louisiana. He is the youngest governor in the country, the first Republican to serve in that position since I was born in 1984, and America's first Indian-American governor. At age 37, Bobby Jindal has more experience than Barack Obama does at 46. Why is that? He's served as executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on Medicare, Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, President of the Louisiana University system, Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for the federal government, and Congressman from Louisiana. That's quite a lot for someone who is only 14 years older than me - makes me feel like I should be a little more ambitious.

But why Jindal? Well, have you ever seen the man talk? He sure can talk pretty...apparently that's all you need now to become President! Seriously though, his wealth of experience, success, and ability to communicate make him one of the top choices for John McCain's VP. Did I mention he's Catholic? That will be a plus in the industrial Midwest and in states like Ohio where Catholics are the largest religion.

McCain is looking for a younger running mate, but is Bobby Jindal too young? I don't think so. If we're going to get into a debate over youth and inexperience, I am not exactly sure the Obama campaign wants to claim that a sitting Governor, former Congressman, and cabinet assistant secretary is somehow not qualified to be Vice President, but a guy who has spent only 3 years in the Senate, most of it running for President, and only a few years ago was in the state Senate, is somehow qualified to be President. I don't think the comparison between Jindal and Obama hurts McCain in the least. It may even help.

The question is, should we give Jindal more time in Louisiana? This is a hard one to answer. I think if he had been governor for a term already, he'd probably be at the top of the VP list this time around. But then again, Barack Obama is planning on leaving halfway through his term - so why not Jindal?

Regardless of whether he is chosen, Jindal has a bright future. I have no doubt in my mind that he will someday be President. I will enthusiastically support him when he does run. This southern governor is an accomplished, bright man (he was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford, like Bill Clinton) who truly deserves the attention he is getting from the national media. John McCain is apparently looking outside the box for his VP choice, and you can't find a more outside the box choice than Bobby Jindal. It is the kind of daring and exciting choice that McCain needs to turn this election around. Quite frankly, his personality and oratory skills are superior to Obama and that says a lot. He would be a huge asset on the campaign trail.

I put his odds of being the nominee at 5 to 1. From everything I am reading, McCain seems to think very highly of him and he is getting serious attention from McCain's vetters. I would not be surprised in the least if he were chosen, and it would certainly motivate me a little more to support McCain because Jindal is an authentic conservative with exactly the kind of background the Republicans need to represent themselves in the future.