Jindal has embraced this academic freedom motif when discussing creationism and the Louisiana Science Education Act. I asked Jindal spokeswoman Shannon Bates about why the governor believed it was appropriate to teach creationism in public schools, and she told me, “We think children should learn every notion with regard to the origin of the universe and mankind—evolution, creationism, Big Bang theory, you name it.” In a discussion with NBC’s Education Nation about the Louisiana Science Education Act, Jindal said, “Let’s teach [our kids] about intelligent design … what are we scared of?”My working theory is that Bobby Jindal is doing everything he should do in order to perform well in the GOP primaries. (Especially among religious conservatives in Iowa where they are starting to warm up to him.) But this doesn't mean that he's actually going to be successful. He might be. But he also might not be on account of certain weaknesses.
But what are Jindal’s own children actually learning? Bates told me that “the governor hopes his children are exposed to all kinds of different science and theories.” Whatever the governor may hope, his kids are attending one of the best schools in Louisiana, and they are only being taught evolution. I know, because I had their seventh-grade biology teacher, Catherine Cummins, myself, and she makes a point to emphasize real science.
The most glaring of those is the fact that.. even though he's getting better at hiding it.. he really can't help oozing the kind of fake smarm that is easy to detect. If he starts to become a legitimate threat, the thing that is most likely to bring him down will be an opponent who knows how to exploit his obvious little hypocrisies like the one described above.
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