How bout that Bobby Jindal?
... and the father himself paid on the installment plan -- fully -- for the cost of his son's birth. Amazing, such integrity. Where have you gone, Mr. Jindal?
I think the one point, of many, I would like to focus on:
The attention paid to the high school dropouts. "We need you." As if we haven't spent and publicized at all on that issue over the past decades. Either people take pride and buy in, or not, I figure...
Working as a library evening/weekend manager while I made my way through law school, let me please share this. The foreign students -- Indonesian, Indian, other Asians -- who applied for our work-study jobs at the circulation desk were disciplined, sober (that seems to be the word of the moment), and judging by the textbooks they studied from between helping patrons, SMART! They surely didn't need their president telling the parents "turn off the tv and read the child a book". Nor did they need encouragement to stay in high school, reach for the stars, heck, EARN that GED!
Until we face reality, and start paying some attention to the other end of our educational spectrum -- the needed hard maths and sciences even earlier in primary and junior high schools -- the further and further America falls behind. Make-work jobs, paid for by the government, simply won't pay off in the future.
We need to stimulate the private sector; instead of penalizing people for providing for their own children by forcing them to pay via taxes to subsidize others, we need to reward their choices and sacrifices by performing so well.
I too, Mr. Obama, get it. I worked my way up. My father paid for my insurance premiums until I could work, and cover them myself. Where is the incentive to wait to have your children, if we unwittingly via our tax code encourage people on the junior end of the economic spectrum to breed, rather than educate and work their way into a position where they can -- independently -- take care of their own?
Everyone who is honest knows that it's much easier to spend and create government goodies, than it is to scale back once the hardest times are over. See Social Security, which was intended to be a temporary government program afterall.
The immigrants get it. The developing countries are hungry too. Sometimes a little hunger, drive and pride can get you places. Worked for me!
More Bobby Jindal please. Because his speech hit one strong note, no? Do you really want the federal government that bailed out Louisiana responsible for bailing out the economy now? Or would you rather the private market set the rewards, order the priorities, and have people adapt their own behaviors -- including sobriety and sacrifice, and waiting until you can pay for your desires -- to the cold realities of life? Because that, my friends, is what made America great. And the opposite -- well, you tell me if the European Union is a world leader in either this century, or the twilight years of the past?
ADDED: And when did it become the American way to judge on style over substance? I mean, that's fine for the make-believe world of Hollywood films, but as things get worse and more and more people feel the pinch, something tells me we'll elect the smartest person for the position -- with a proven track record. If Jindal is credible on the governmnet ethics reforms in his state, and can indeed pull up Louisiana's poor educational reputatation, well that, combined with at least a term of executive experience, will put him head and shoulders above the current man sitting in the White House. Words are fine and good and all, but the actions behind them -- the results -- count for something out here in the real world too.
Too bad the press never really looked closely at a first-term senator's results of Change in his own home state. The corruption there is the same as it was when it was only white people pulling the levers and running the machine, distributing the plum patronage jobs and lucrative government contracts. Not I'm not saying Obama is responsible for all that -- it was of course going on while he was still back on the Hawaiian beaches, partying it up in high school. But where are the results of his much touted "community organizing"? Where are the improvements in the Chicago educational system, from his time spent working there?
If we're just looking for a president to make promises, hope and encourage us (like some people apparently never got at home from their family where these tasks are best undertaken) ... and nevermind the results, well surely even Barack Obama could be bested in that performance.
I mean, can we at least hold off on the standing ovations until the job is done? Or at least undertaken -- in a real sense, not just talky talk, hopes and promises for a better tomorrow ... tomorrow. Independence and self reliance will one day make a comeback -- maybe some of the most unstylish people in the world even will show us how. Hopefully we'll pick up on their tips, before they've completely eaten our lunches. 'Nuff said.
Make it a great Tuesday, folks!
