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Senator Mary Landrieu: Representing LA
Posted by Robert Goidel | 11.22.2009 / 3:19 PM PST
Say what you will about our elected representatives, the job of representation is not an easy one. Representatives who work constructively to solve problems become the targets of partisan invectives, while representatives who skillfully maneuver through the legislative process to benefit their states or districts are labeled as shady or corrupt. Politically, it is much […]
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Returning to the National Spotlight, Governor Jindal Questions Health Care Reform?
Posted by Robert Goidel | 07.22.2009 / 1:11 PM PDT
After spending several months in what he must consider a form of purgatory in the Louisiana legislative session, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal reemerged this week into the glowing warmth of FOX News and the Wall Street Journal editorial page to offer a pointed critique of the Obama Administration’s health care policy. For a Governor so […]
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A Strong Local Economy, a Budgetary Crisis, and Dysfunctional Politics
Posted by Robert Goidel | 06.18.2009 / 4:22 PM PDT
In Baton Rouge, even as the local economy thrives, the state legislature struggles with an untenable budget. Just this week, the Brooking Institute ranked the Baton Rouge area economy 8th among the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. The report cites state government employment, a limited subprime mortgage crisis, and a strong energy […]
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An Update on the Louisiana: Wading into the National Recession
Posted by Robert Goidel | 06.09.2009 / 4:08 PM PDT
In Louisiana, we have been sitting on the edge of the national recession, peering anxiously out our window blinds, hoping not to be bothered. While the state economy has fared relatively well, troubling signs of layoffs and reorganizations have emerged and the state budget remains an intractable political problem. Given the choice, we have opted […]
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Louisiana By The Numbers: Louisiana Survey Results
Posted by Robert Goidel | 04.02.2009 / 10:37 AM PDT
Rather than post a normal blog, I have posted my comments from a presentation to Rotary Club of Baton Rouge on the Louisiana Survey. We conduct at LSU’s Public Policy Research Lab (which I direct). You can find a full copy of the report, a one-page brief of the findings, and the presss release at www.survey.lsu.edu.
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Let me begin by […]
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Newt Gingrich and Republican Positioning on the Bush/Obama Bailout
Posted by Robert Goidel | 03.21.2009 / 1:29 PM PDT
This week, I was fortunate enough to hear former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich speak to James Carville’s class at Tulane University in New Orleans. The architect of the 1994 Republican Revolution, Gingrich is one of the most important and influential politicians of the contemporary era. His leadership brought the Republican Party out of […]
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Bobby Jindal’s Very Bad Day
Posted by Robert Goidel | 03.01.2009 / 5:48 PM PST
In politics (as in all matters of celebrity), fortune’s pendulum can swing wildly. Before this past Tuesday night, Bobby Jindal was on a remarkable upswing that carried the son of Indian immigrants to the Louisiana Governor’s mansion and the cusp of national leadership. He is a remarkable if often frustrating politician to watch; a smart […]
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Straddling the Stimulus Fence
Posted by Robert Goidel | 02.20.2009 / 12:15 PM PST
Our elected officials rarely come to office fully formed but are instead revealed slowly over the course of events. We have learned more about Barack Obama, for example, in the month since his inauguration than during the entire 2008 campaign. In campaigns, candidates (and voters) can imagine who they might be. In governing, their choices […]
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Bobby Jindal’s John Kerry Moment
Posted by Robert Goidel | 02.06.2009 / 10:35 AM PST
Republican House members wasted no time letting Barack Obama know that partisanship is alive and well in Washington DC. Not a single Republican voted in favor of the economic stimulus package, a remarkable outcome considering it followed the most convincing presidential win since Ronald Reagan handily defeated Walter Mondale in 1984. If the past eight […]
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Change We Can Believe In Washington Style
Posted by Robert Goidel | 02.01.2009 / 9:31 PM PST
House Democrats and House Republicans have quickly demonstrated the challenge confronting anyone who wants to change the tone of Washington. Institutions matter and the House of Representatives is perfectly situated for partisan (but not post-partisan) politics. House Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi jammed the economic stimulus bill down the collective throat of House Republicans. House […]
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The Boom and Bust of Louisiana Politics: Bobby Jindal Style
Posted by Robert Goidel | 01.25.2009 / 6:09 PM PST
If there is a constant of contemporary American politics, it is the triumph of hype over substance. Consider Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal who has stepped into the vacuum created by the failed Presidency of George W. Bush and the failed candidacy of Senator John McCain. Unlike Sarah Palin, Jindal speaks in complete sentences and talks […]
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Obama’s inauguration a mixed bag in BR
Posted by Ed Pratt | 01.21.2009 / 11:27 AM PST
It rarely mattered where you were on Tuesday; the Barack Obama’s inauguration generated an incredible amount of excitement and goodwill. The outpouring of goodwill, to say the least, was remarkable in this town that went for John McCain in the presidential election.
The scene this morning at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge was […]
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This day is for remembering and Annie Rose
Posted by Ed Pratt | 01.20.2009 / 3:03 PM PST
When Barack Obama said “So help me God” and became the 44th President of the United States, I wonder what was going through the mind of the woman who refused to serve my father and me snowballs because we were black.
I wonder what was going through the minds of the men and women who thought […]
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This day is for remembering and Annie Rose
Posted by Ed Pratt | 01.20.2009 / 2:54 PM PST
When Barack Obama said “So help me God” and became the 44th President of the United States, I wonder what was going through the mind of the woman who refused to serve my father and me snowballs because we were black.
I wonder what was going through the minds of the men and women who thought […]
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Backwards Louisiana
Posted by Robert Goidel | 01.18.2009 / 12:17 PM PST
Every so often in Louisiana, we afford ourselves hope that we have put the past behind, that we can step proudly into the light of the modern world and offer ourselves as a community where a knowledge-based economy can grow and thrive. We tell ourselves that we are so much more than the stereotypes of […]
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