Traditionally, the opposition party delivers a response immediately following the president’s State of the Union address, and last night that honor/curse was bestowed upon Louisiana’s Republican governor and sometime-exorcist Bobby Jindal. Hilariously, even before Jindal started speaking, an MSNBC anchor (probably Chris Matthews) was heard muttering “Oh, God” under his breath, a sentiment which turned out to be extremely prescient. Especially in the wake of President Obama’s oratorical prowess, Jindal’s singsongy delivery was, frankly, tragic. The uncanny similarity to 30 Rock’s Kenneth the Page is already a certified Internet meme, and he’s also inviting unflattering comparisons to a tour guide or the reader of a bedtime story (personally, we think he’d make a good spokesman for Colonial Penn Life Insurance). Fox News’ panel of pundits even panned Jindal, describing his speech as “not exactly terrific,” “amateurish,” and “childish.” For a prospective presidential candidate and one of the party’s rising stars, that couldn’t have gone much worse.
