Jindal is 1st Indian-American to run for the White House
Thursday, 25/06/2015
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
WASHINGTON: Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal on Wednesday announced he was running for the White House, making him the first Indian-American to seek the country’s highest office. “I’m running for President of the United States of America,” Jindal tweeted, marking a major milestone for a community looking to leverage its prosperity for political power.
A formal launch, with speeches and the ritualistic hoopla associated with it — photo-ops and shoutouts to role models and supporters, was slated for later in the day.
Jindal, 44, joins a crowded Republican race for the party nomination that now has 13 candidates, to just four on the Democratic side, with a few more announcements expected in coming days.
It will be tough for him to be noticed, and heroic to make it.
Jindal, who is a two-term governor and a two-term member of the House of Representatives, has been trailing badly in all public opinion polls on Republican contenders. He finished 11th in a field of 13 in the most recent poll, by The Wall Street Journal and NBC, that’s precariously close to the cut-off mark for making it to the primary debates.
Only the top 10 candidates, according to the polling numbers, will be on the stage for the debates that determine electability not only in the primary stages, but also beyond. Jindal has said in multiple interviews that he is not perturbed by his low poll numbers, saying that’s exactly where he was when he first ran for governor, but went on to win.
He has also had problems with his own party, which he called the “stupid party” in a speech, which didn’t go down too well either with the establishment or the base.
And he will struggle to find traction with Indian-Americans, whom he alienated by publicly trying to distance himself from. They now believe he doesn’t need them.
“There are some sections that will support him but his views do not reflect what we believe are the majority views particularly of the next-gen,” said Shekar Narasimhan, a Democrat. “Not sure he wants or needs us anyway!”
