A Nigga Ain't Neva Been as Broke as Me, I Like That

Yglesias: I'm actually a bit skeptical of Jindal's 2016 prospects... the next few years aren't shaping up to be an especially promising time to be a governor. A governor presiding over an economic boom can cut taxes while increasing spending, and thus develop a reputation as a popular can-do pragmatist. Think of George W. Bush, George Voinovich, Christie Todd Whitman, and other classics of the 1990s... it's going to [be] difficult for him to rack up the sort of Record of Accomplishments that you're usually looking for in a presidential candidate.

True.  But then again this year's McCain-Obama matchup obscures the fact that Presidential Nominees (the ones who win, at least) are rarely ever Senators, let alone Representatives (Matt Santos doesn't count.)  The institutional impositions of Congress, namely voting records, makes it difficult for Senators to control the narrative of what it is they represent. They spend all day voting on other people's bills, many of which are crafted to be wedge votes in the first place. And the next 8 years don't appear to be a great time to be a GOP Senator anyways.  If a GOP minority role in this Congress is as useless as it has the potential to be, the party may have no other realistic place to look than its Governors. (Maybe Petreus!)

Furthermore, take the examples of Carter and Reagan.  The 1970s were hardly boom times, yet these two Governors were able to win.  Similar story with Clinton in '92.  Besides, we're talking 8 loooong years down the road.  Who would've accurately predicted in 2000 where we'd be at today?  It could also be that Obama, through no fault of his own, spends most of his time in office presiding over a terrible economy. Will voters in 2016 remember that the GOP controlled government for the years leading up to and including the beginning of this downturn (which put the Dems over the top this time)?  Or, will they instead see Democratic control of government during the bulk of this recession and blame them? I'd lean toward the latter.

Of course, a recession just means that Jindal has been dealt a comparatively bad hand.  He could still play it well.  I frankly don't know enough about the man to make a prediction, but at least he, unlike GOP Senators, runs the show where he's at. 

Update: One of the things I enjoy about reading Yglesias is exemplified quite well by the capitalization going on in "Record of Accomplishments"