Jindal: 2016 presidential candidates need their 'head examined'
The Louisiana governor, mentioned prominently as a potential candidate himself, thinks that before we even start talking about 2016, Republicans should get their own house in order.
"Anybody on the Republican side even thinking or talking about running for president in 2016, I've said, needs to get their head examined," Jindal told "Fox and Friends." "And the reason I say that is, we've lost two presidential elections in a row, we need to be winning the debate of ideas, then we'll win elections."
Jindal, considered an early front-runner for the Republican nomination, said that the party's struggles despite polling showing a desire for smaller government was evidence that a reboot was necessary.
"We're not winning the conversation, we're not presenting our ideas, we're not in that debate as well as we should be," Jindal said.
The popular governor, who was re-elected last year, also said the nation was likely fatigued with presidential politics.
"The country doesn't need four years of non-stop presidential - we just inaugurated a new term of this president's second term," Jindal said.
Jindal will be barred by law from seeking a third consecutive term as Louisiana governor when his current tenure concludes in 2015. And while Jindal is protesting against early presidential speculation, he also seems to be positioning himself for a run. Jindal will become chairman of the Republican Governor's Association next year, a high-profile job that will bring him to key fundraising and primary states. He also stumped in Iowa repeatedly for Mitt Romney during the presidential campaign and returned later in the fall, traveling with former presidential candidate Rick Santorum on a bus tour targeting an Iowa Supreme Court judge who supports same-sex marriage.
Any kind of message tweaking by the GOP will be done on the fly. And presidential politics stops for no one and for no reason. The fact is, successful candidates - especially Republicans - organize early or, as in the case of the last two candidates, never stop running. Jindal, as the article mentions, is already fine tuning his message and appearing in early primary and caucus states, building name recognition if nothing else.
The point is, Jindal, Christie, and a few others already sound like presidential candidates, even if they aren't making their intentions clear. None of them can afford to fall behind which is why we have the Endless Campaign.
Good for political junkies. Not necessarily good for our politics or the republic.