Bobby Jindal and Smart Power

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R-LA) traveled to London England to address the Henry Jackson Society.  This British think tank, named after the anticommunist defense hawk Sen. "Scoop" Jackson (D-WA), is dedicated to support a strong military and a "forward strategy" (involving diplomacy, culture, economics and politics) to make the world safe for modern liberal democracies.

Jindal's speech before Scoop Jackson academics had the potential for promoting his political standing amongst aficionados of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, while contrasting world views with his prospective general election rival Hillary Clinton.  However, Jindal chose to focus his remarks on the dangers of political Islamism both in global hot zones as well as within Western democracies. Jindal alluded to no go zones in Europe.

After the speech, Jindal was pressed by a CNN reporter to name a No Go zone in London, the presumed Republican presidential hopeful refused to give specifics


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So instead of concentrating on the substance of the speech, a politically correct media inclined to destroy any rivals to the second coming of the Clintons to the Oval Office, played a media game of Gotcha'. While progressive partisans may think that they have already won in taking down Jindal with no go zones, just like Gov. Chris Christie's prospects were impaired by the ersatz "Bridge-gate" scandal, they are too clever by half.

Jindal should feel justified that there are at least 85 sharia courts operating in the UK. Recently, terrorism pundit Steve Emerson opined on Fox News that Birmingham was "entirely Muslim", which FNC publically disavowed.  But England's second largest city is 22% Muslim and this can create a de facto no go zone with western women not dressed modestly enough for unofficial prude police.  Then there is the case of the two evangelical preachers threatened with "hate" crimes for passing out Christian pamphlets in Muslim majority neighborhoods.   However, that is not a formal "no go zone" as in France. 

Jindal sought to properly define "Smart Power" to pursue American political and economic security.  But since the two term Louisiana Governor is considered in the hunt for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, the Lamestream Media will use political language to shape the race as they will.

Post Scriptus 01/21/2015 At Red State, Eric Erickson pointed to an earlier video from CNN which reported on Muslim patrols which sought to enforce ad hoc sharia law on the streets of East London.