We know Gov. Bobby Jindal is arrogant and cynical because he said so himself — in a manner of speaking.
Within hours last November of President Obama signing an executive order protecting five million undocumented immigrants from deportation, Jindal rolled down his window of the Republican presidential hopeful clown car and proclaimed in part, “If the President wants to make the case that the law should be changed, he should go make the case to Congress and our people. This is an arrogant, cynical political move by the President, and it’s why so many Americans no longer trust this President to solve the problems we face.”
One difference between the president’s executive order last year and the one Jindal issued Tuesday night offering state-sanctioned cover to homophobes is Congress has been in a state of paralysis over comprehensive immigration reform for years while the House Civil Law & Procedure Committee put state Rep. Mike Johnson’s onerous House Bill 707, AKA the Marriage and Conscience Act, on mothballs. Jindal, in other words, let the people of Louisiana decide on HB 707 through our normal legislative process and we rejected it.
Jindal also said Obama's executive order would "incentivize" illegal immigration. What, pray tell, might Jindal be incentivizing with his executive order?
Here’s a conspiracy theory of my own (that might have been floated by others, I just haven’t seen it): This was all orchestrated; Jindal knew beforehand (or even coordinated with committee members) that the bill would be scuttled so he could beat his chest and issue the executive order in yet another craven, embarrassing attempt to pander to a shade of the GOP base that, one hopes, isn’t representative of the Republican Party as a whole yet is seen by Jindal and his handlers as the only shot he has of getting himself in contention for the nomination.
Sorry, governor, but Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum have already cornered that market.
Isn't it curious that the wordy, detailed executive order was ready to go within hours of the House committee tabling 707? It's almost like it had already been written.
If Gov. Jindal wants to make the case that HB 707 should become law, he should let the people through their elected legislators decide. This is an arrogant, cynical political move by the governor, and it’s why so many Louisianans no longer trust this governor to solve the problems we face.