Gov. Bobby Jindal Is 'Tanned. Rested. Ready' and Ridiculous

By Hillary Crosley Coker | July 1, 2015 | 10:00pm

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Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is ready to be President in 2016, guys—tanned, rested and ready. But is he equipped with the political knowledge to lead America to a more enlightened and fair state? If his home state track record is any indication, probably not.

Recently, Jindal announced he was running for president in 2016—along with every other Republican alive and with some coin—but this guy, he’s different. His slogan is “Tanned. Rested. Ready.” which sounds wild because, you know, as an Indian American he’s already pretty brown. So, what is this campaign slogan getting at exactly?

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From the Times-Picayune:

“The liberal media that developed this week was disgusting: Apparently Bobby isn’t brown enough for them,” wrote Timmy Teepell, Jindal’s campaign manager, in an email to supporters.

“Well, this will make the left even more upset. We are now selling the first limited edition t-shirt of the campaign, and I want you to know about it.”

No, Bobby and Bobby’s people! No.

It’s pretty clear that Jindal is brown, however his policies around the many brown people in his home state and his use of the name Bobby instead of his born name Piyush is leading some to question his relationship to his own race. The “tanned” term also came up in Jindal’s official campaign launch and the media focused on his relationship with the Indian American community. This inquiry somehow offended the Jindal campaign team, which is rich considering the Governor’s questionably light self-portrait hanging in the Louisiana state’s capitol.

While Jindal references his parents’ move from India to Baton Rouge in his speeches, some still think he’s trying to put space between his presidential aspirations and his cultural heritage. Oh, and Jindal’s not Indian anymore, he’s just American.

“I’m done with all this talk about hyphenated Americans. We are not Indian-Americans, Irish-Americans, African-Americans, rich Americans, or poor Americans – we are all Americans,” Jindal said during his campaign launch.

Weird because if one’s not trying to side-step their race, why do just that by referring to your naturally brown skin as “Tanned”? How about this: ditch the semantics and safe sounding ways of intimating that you’re Indian and simply deliver solid political talking points on the issues facing America in the next four years.

Oh, and stop doing Twitter chats. It’s not helping.

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Image via Getty.