For Jindal, Patience in Key

Since the November elections, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has become a bit of a celebrity on the political and Republican speaking circuits. Jindal, at 37 years old the nation's youngest governor, is viewed as a penultimate star in the GOP today and one of the party's future national leaders. For his part, Jindal has seemed to enjoy the attention, traveling around the country for various engagements, political and not, all the while coyly side-stepping questions about his possible presidential ambitions, questions he is no doubt delighted to address but not answer.

This is absolutely the wise course for Jindal because unlike many any other politicians with images of the White House dancing in their eyes, Jindal has plenty of time to be patient. After losing a close runoff for the Louisiana governorship in 2003, Jindal was elected to the House of Representatives for his first elective office in 2004. He left Congress upon being elected governor three years. As a result, Jindal is afforded not only relative youth, but also a thin record which will not burden him later. His presidential "freshness" will still be neatly intact for several years to come.

When Jindal is re-elected governor in 2011 -- and barring some unfortunate circumstances for him, that will happen given the current demise of the Louisiana Democratic Party -- he has options at his disposal. Assuming Barack Obama still looks very strong in a few years, he can sit tight in 2012 and not put himself out there as a nominee must likely to be sacrified to the Obama machine. Or, if he so desires, he could be a strong contender to be the running mate for someone like Mitt Romney, the king of whitebread candidates. Even if he were to be the number two on a losing ticket, he would be strongly positioned for an open seat in 2016.

Of course, Jindal can also stay completely out of the 2012 circus if a GOP slaughter looks likely, thereby walking above the fray and not being hit with the taint of a terrible loss afterwards. Naturally, he risks waiting too long and allowing his star to potentially set before then, because as we all know: in politics, a few years is a whole bunch of lifetimes. Nonetheless it is a risk worth taking from Jindal's perspective because of his youth and his lack of a long elected or legislative history. Unlike many ambitious pols who yearn for the presidency but have piled up too many years in office to remain palatable (basically the entire U.S. Senate on both sides), Jindal is still a relative newcomer to the scene, and as a result, he has a great deal of flexibility for his own career plans. This what makes him a likely frontrunner when he decides to make his move. I predict it will be in 2016.