Wasteful Gov't Spending Alerts Alaskans to Volcanic Eruptions

Remember Bobby Jindal's mockery of volcano monitoring as wasteful government spending?

After months of threatening rumbles, Mount Redoubt finally exploded overnight in five separate explosions, the latest sometime before 5 a.m. today.

A fourth explosion had rocked the volcano at 1:39 a.m. today after three eruptions earlier in the night sent an ash cloud an estimated 50,000 feet into the air, the Alaska Volcano Observatory reported.

...Winds were carrying the ash plume north toward the Susitna Valley, and an ash advisory has been issued for the area until 8 a.m., the National Weather Service said.

Ash was not expected in Anchorage or Wasilla at this time, the Weather Service said, although they said a light dusting might be possible [George Bryson, "Fifth Explosion Rocks Mount Redoubt Volcano," Anchorage Daily News, 2009.03.22].

Prediction: In the first 2012 GOP Presidential primary debate, Governor Sarah Palin gets her Reagan vs. Mondale "youth and inexperience" moment with a well-timed volcano joke that knocks Jindal's poll numbers into the single digits for good. She may even win some moderate votes as she acknowledges that sometimes—monitoring volcanoes, building schools and bridges, buying Alaska from Russia—government does some good.

Government: What We Can Achieve

Between speeches last night, my wife and I joked about why the Republicans hadn't given Alaska Governor Sarah Palin the national spotlight again to rebut President Barack Obama's address to Congress. After watching Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's laughable performance, from his awkward Bush-walk to the camera to the stilted Saturday Night Live delivery, we wonder if maybe Jindal didn't just raise Palin's stock.

The howler of the night: Jindal's revisionist leap of logic in claiming that the federal government's botched response to Hurricane Katrina proves that government can't rescue us from the current economic crisis.

The rhetorical imagery almost works, until you say two words: Bush Administration. The Republican Party would take the failure of one of its own, George W. Bush, and spin it as proof that government doesn't work.

If anything, Katrina more directly proves that putting people at the helm who don't believe in steering the ship of state, who don't even think the ship is sound, is a recipe for trouble.

Did Jindal even listen to the President's speech?

History reminds us that at every moment of economic upheaval and transformation, this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas. In the midst of civil war, we laid railroad tracks from one coast to another that spurred commerce and industry. From the turmoil of the Industrial Revolution came a system of public high schools that prepared our citizens for a new age. In the wake of war and depression, the GI Bill sent a generation to college and created the largest middle class in history. (Applause.) And a twilight struggle for freedom led to a nation of highways, an American on the moon, and an explosion of technology that still shapes our world.

In each case, government didn't supplant private enterprise; it catalyzed private enterprise. It created the conditions for thousands of entrepreneurs and new businesses to adapt and to thrive [President Barack Obama, address to Congress, transcript via CBSNews.com, 2009.02.24].

Heck, did Jindal listen to his own speech?

This is the nation that cast off the scourge of slavery, overcame the Great Depression, prevailed in two World Wars, won the struggle for civil rights, defeated the Soviet menace, and responded with determined courage to the attacks of September 11, 2001 [Governor Bobby Jindal, attempted rebuttal to the President, transcript via CNN.com, 2009.02.24].

Railroads, public high schools, GI Bill, interstate highways, Apollo—President Obama pointed to examples par excellence of government at its best. Governor Jindal concluded with a list of historic achievements that required government coordination.

Governor Jindal and his collapsing party, desperate for some way to destroy this new President, continue to engage in empty rhetoric that misses a fundamental political truth: Government is not an alien monster. Government is the tool we the people create to solve problems and achieve great goals we cannot handle by ourselves.

We can have a fair debate about just which problems government has a proper role in tackling. But government is what we make it. If we think government is a failure and elect people who share that view, we can expect dysfunctional government. If we put on our "Yes We Can" hats and elect folks who want to make government work, we can use government to make America better.

Brooks: Jindal out of Touch

Another Jindal howler: attempting to portray "volcano monitoring" as pork (note Jindal's use of the word larded). I don't need to live next to a volcano to recognize spending $140M on monitoring volcanoes is a really good idea. You'd think a guy who lives in a state built on flood plains in Hurricane Alley would grasp the importance of watching for natural disasters.

Governor Jindal is an icon of a party out of touch. But don't take my word for it; see what conservative commentator David Brooks says about Jindal's "Happy Mardi Gras" chat:

"You know, I think Bobby Jindal is a very promising politician," said New York Times columnist David Brooks, appearing on PBS, "and I oppose the stimulus because I thought it was poorly drafted. But to come up at this moment in history with a stale "government is the problem," "we can't trust the federal government" -- it's just a disaster for the Republican Party. The country is in a panic right now. They may not like the way the Democrats have passed the stimulus bill, but that idea ... that government is going to have no role, the federal government has no role in this ... it's just a form of nihilism. It's just not where the country is, it's not where the future of the country is. There's an intra-Republican debate" [Sam Stein, "Bobby Jindal Response Panned By Pundits, Republicans And Democrats Alike", Huffinton Post, 2009.02.25].

Well, Governor Jindal had his shot. Speeches are done—now back to work!