Is it too early to start talking about the 2012 presidentialelection? Not for political junkies like me! Bobby Jindal, governorof Louisiana, got his “campaign” off to a rousing start last nightby delivering the Republican response to President Barack Obama'saddress to Congress and the nation.

I thought President Obama's speech was a forceful, confidentnarrative, summing up all he's trying to do to get our brokeneconomy back on track. It was short on details, but the point lastnight wasn't to lay out a laundry list of bullet points, but toreassure the American people that he knows what he's doing, that heunderstands people's concerns, and that we need to be patient whileall the pieces are put into place and given time to work.

He also made it a point to note that health insurance reformremains on the table, assuring everyone he has no intention ofplacing that critical component of his campaign on the back burnerfor long.

In fact, he explained that the soaring cost of health care andour failure to get it under control–while leaving tens of millionsunderinsured or without any coverage at all–is a big part of theeconomic predicament we're in today. Look at how health insurancecosts–both for current and retired workers–have helped cripple theauto industry!

Let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it mustnot wait, and it will not wait another year, President Obamadeclared.

But I was more interested in the response from Gov. Jindal, whoestablished himself as the early favorite to challenge PresidentObama in 2012.

He started by hailing Obama as the first African-AmericanPresident–a keen point given the governor's own Indian family'simmigrant background.

But then he drew an out-loud guffaw from yours truly when hesaid with a straight face that “today in Washington, some arepromising that government will rescue us from the economic stormsraging all around us. Those of us who lived through HurricaneKatrina, we have our doubts.”

What he conveniently neglected to mention, of course, was thatthe federal government's shameful failure to live up to ournational rescue and recovery responsibilities after Katrina cameunder a Republican administration committed to the misguided beliefthat government is always the problem and can never be thesolution. It's no wonder good, old “Brownie” failed as head ofFEMA, given the party's can't-do attitude. Yet that is the samephilosophy Gov. Jindal endorses heartily.

He also made a joke about how, since his mom was four monthspregnant when his family arrived in America, “I was what folks inthe insurance industry now call a pre-existing condition.”

That's cute, except the joke is on us. In reality, pre-existingconditions are what keep coverage unaffordable–if it's available atall–for those who would like to buy individual health insurance.Yet most Republicans want to end what's left of the employer-basedgroup health market and leave people on their own to buy coverage.Good luck with that!

Still, Gov. Jindal is articulate, bright, young and charismatic,as well as a reflection of the increasing diversity in Americansociety. He would make a formidable opponent.

However, I suspect that in two years or so, Gov. Jindal willtake the temperature of the body politic before deciding whether torun. If the economy has turned around by then, I would bet he'llhold off until the presidency is wide open in 2016, rather thantake on a popular President who saved the nation. Let Alaska Gov.Sarah Palin be the sacrificial lamb, he'll say to himself!

But if President Obama is trapped in a long-term economicdecline like Japan's lost decade, or if Afghanistan becomes aquagmire like Iraq, or if there is another major terrorist attackor foreign policy debacle, look out! Gov. Jindal might try to takeback the White House and restore the GOP's vision of smallergovernment.

What do you folks think?