Republican Bobby takes on Barack with dreams of his own father

“All Americans are moved by the President’s personal story — the son of an American mother and a Kenyan father,who grew up to become leader of the free world,” began Jindal,speaking on national television from the Governor’s mansion in Baton Rouge.

“Like the President’s father,my parents came to this country from a distant land. When they arrived in Baton Rouge,my mother was already four-and-a-half months pregnant. I was what folks in the insurance industry now call a ‘pre-existing condition’.”

Jindal spoke of how his father trawled through local yellow pages to find work,and had to figure out an instalment plan with the doctor for the delivery because he didn’t have enough money. “Fortunately for me,he never missed a payment.”

His parents taught him the values that attracted them to America. “ ‘Bobby,Americans can do anything,’ my father would say…I still believe that to this day. Americans can do anything. When we pull together,there is no challenge we cannot overcome.”

Jindal defended the virtues of small government that he said even his own party had abandoned in recent years.

“Instead of trusting us to make decisions with our own money,they passed the largest government spending bill in history with a price tag of more than $1 trillion with interest,” he said of Democrats. “Democratic leaders say their legislation will grow the economy. What it will do is grow the government,increase our taxes down the line and saddle future generations with debt.”

Speaking of Obama,he said: “We appreciate his message of hope,but sometimes it seems like we look for hope in different places. Democratic leaders in Washington,they place their hope in the federal government. We place our hope in you,the American people.”

Jindal rebuked the President for a remark made earlier in this month when Obama warned that without immediate action on the economy,“our nation will sink into a crisis that,at some point,we may be unable to reverse.”

“Our troubles are real,to be sure,” Jindal said. “But don’t let anyone tell you that we cannot recover. Don’t let anyone tell you that America’s best days are behind her.”