Jindal wants to restore, not redefine, American dream

CEDAR RAPIDS - Gov. Bobby Jindal thinks the United States is the greatest nation on Earth, but the Louisiana Republican thinks it's headed in the wrong direction.

'We're blessed to be here,” he said Friday after speaking at a 'Pastors & Pews” event for leaders of conservative Christian congregations in Cedar Rapids. 'But people are anxious. There is a real concern whether our kids will inherit more opportunities than we inherited from our parents.”

Wages have stagnated, college seems out of reach for middle class families and the job market hasn't recovered from the Great Recession, Jindal said. It's not only President Barack Obama's policies on taxes, spending and borrowing that he disagrees with. One of his greatest concerns is that the president is redefining the American dream.

'My parents came halfway across the world nearly 50 years ago because of the American dream,” said Jindal, 43, whose parents were Indian immigrants. 'It was so powerful they knew that if you got here and worked hard you could do well.

'I want to make sure their grandchildren and all our children can pursue that dream right here at home,” he said.

However, Jindal, who will speak Saturday at The Family Leader Summit in Ames, thinks conservatives have to do more than disagree with the president.

'”We have to provide a constructive, positive agenda to say this is how we get back on track, this is how we restore those opportunities for our kids,” he said.

If that sounds like the beginning of a 2016 presidential campaign for Jindal, who has been the Pelican State's governor since 2008, it might be.

'It's something that we're thinking about, we're praying about,” Jindal said. 'We're not going to make that decision - my wife and family - until after the November election.”

If he does run, 'I would have to make a decision whether I have something unique to offer, do I have something to contribute,” he said. 'We're not at that point of making that decision.”

In the meantime, Jindal expects to be back in Iowa, host to the first-in-the-nation precinct caucuses, to campaign for Republicans.

l Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com