Jindal announces formation of an exploratory committee in an expected run for U.S. president.

Gov. Bobby Jindal

REGULAR READERS of this Views From The Edge can easily get a sense of where I stand on the American political spectrum. It is no secret that I'm a little bit left of center, depending where the mythical "center" is at any moment in time and from your own political perspective.

However, I started this blog to report on Asian Americans issues and individuals so I would be remiss if I didn't mention any Asian American conservatives in the news.

So, take Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana ... PLEASE! (Sorry, I couldn't resist that one.) Last week the Indian American politician announced the start of an exploratory committee in preparation for a presidential run.

"If I run, my candidacy will be based on the idea that the American people are ready to try a dramatically different direction," Jindal said in a press release. "Not a course correction, but a dramatically different path.

"President Obama has started to redefine the American Dream, turning it into the European Nightmare. Because of this, I believe our country is in serious trouble and that the hour is late for America. Economic collapse is much closer to the door than people realize, our culture is decaying at a rapid rate, and our standing in a dangerous world is at an all-time low.

"However, the problems caused by 7 years of weak leadership and mistakes in the Obama administration can be corrected. But they won’t be fixed by just sending Republicans to Congress. It will only be fixed by a President who is willing to make hard decisions and who has the ideas to change our country's future.

"While other Republican leaders are talking about change, I've published detailed plans to repeal and replace Obamacare, rebuild America's Defenses, make America energy independent, and reform Education for our nation's children."

At first glance, Jindal seems to be the perfect GOP antidote to critics who say the Republican Party doesn't represent the views of minorities. As a Rhoades scholar, he is smart and articulate. He's Indian American and he's governor of Louisiana. He was introduced to the nation as the Republican's golden boy but since that dubious debut, he's attacked conservatives in his own party for not being conservative enough.

He's made some pretty troubling statements in his ongoing efforts to appease the far right of his party. These days, that direction is so right, its wrong. Here's a couple of examples:

On religion

In an article published in The Atlantic, he argued that people of faith must realize that they are fighting a “silent war” against the secular, liberal elite. And they must keep waging that war no matter how much of a cultural minority they become. “Our religious liberty,” he insisted, “must in no way ever be linked to the ever-changing opinions of the public." Is he saying Al Quaeda and ISIS are OK because they are defending their faith against the rest of us?

No-go zones

Talking about predominantly Muslim neighborhoods in Europe, he described: “There are neighborhoods where women don’t feel comfortable going in without veils - that is wrong, we all know there are neighborhoods where police are less likely to go into,” Jindal continues to say, referring to so-called “no-go” zones or areas that are too dangerous for non-Muslims to enter. Fox News jumped on this bit of fantasy but upon further investigation and finding no evidence of such neighborhoods, the right-wing mouthpiece has apologized for repeating this nonsense. Jindal continues to insist these areas exist to the extent that he's made the English and French governments, traditional allies of the U.S., attack him and that doesn't bode well for international relations.

There! I've done my duty in introducing the possibility of having an Asian American run for president. Note that I didn't use the hyphenated racial/political term in describing Jindal. He doesn't like the hyphen either!

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