Maybe Limbaugh is right to defend Bobby Jindal. Tim Kaine blew the SOTU-response. So did Kathleen Sebelius. And Nancy Reid and Harry Pelosi. James Webb is the exception, and he's a genuine exception. Indeed, there's a non-trivial chance Obama is our president today because he was never asked to give one of those things. The big question is when ambitious politicians will figure out that the post-SOTU gig is a career killer. You don't want to lead a restaurant wars team on Top Chef and you don't want to respond to the State of the Union. Strategery, folks. One interesting note: Jindal is among the Republicans best schooled in health care issues. And his rhetoric last night broke with theirs. "No American should have to worry about losing their health coverage - period," he said. "We stand for universal access to affordable health care coverage. We oppose universal government-run health care. Health care decisions should be made by doctors and patients - not by government bureaucrats." There's no policy content backing those claims, of course. But it's always a good thing when Republicans submit to progressive talking points. As example, think of how "lower, simpler taxes" is now the bipartisan rhetoric on tax policy. That doesn't mean Democrats want the Bush tax agenda, but the frame is fundamentally conservative and their policies rarely stray into anything so jarring as, say, a broad-based tax increase. Similarly, the more Republicans talk liberal on health care, the less they'll actually be able to do that's conservative.
