The wind made more noise than Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal did when he copied (and mocked or both) President Obama and released his birth certificate over the weekend.
They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. But I doubt the president was impressed. Or even cared.
The Louisiana governor, a miniature-attack-dog critic of the president, the kind that rankles neighbors’ nerves with its high-pitched relentless barking, unveiled the document in the aftermath of so-called “birthers” who insisted President Obama is ineligible to serve because he was not born in the United States.
The 39-year-old, who was born in Baton Rouge, La., to immigrant parents from India, later insisted he believed Obama was a citizen and was not part of the birther movement. How comforting to know that a person who hates the president sides with him because his own lineage has come into question.
According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Jindal released the document “knowing that his own status will certainly be examined in the event he ends up on a presidential ticket.”
Oh, so now we get it. This was not about standing in solidarity with Obama to withstand the torrential downpour of xenophobia spurred on by the Tea Party dweebs and Donald Trump. This was about preparing for a prospective presidential campaign. OK, got it.
Jindal said in April that he’d sign legislation requiring presidential candidates to provide a copy of their birth certificate before they appear on the Bayou State’s ballot. How thoughtful. That probably scored a few more points with the extreme right wing of the GOP.
“It wasn’t to quell speculation,” about Jindal’s citizenship, said Kyle Plotkin, the governor’s press secretary. “We were asked to give it and we did.”
The move comes on the heels of Republican Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, who introduced legislation to deny citizenship to anyone born in the U.S. “unless at least one parent is a legal citizen, legal immigrant, active member of the Armed Forces or a naturalized legal citizen.”
Jindal’s office said they handed the document over to a local newspaper after it was requested. Too bad no one cared. –terry shropshire
