The first thing that struck me about Governor Bobby Jindal was his age. At 37, he is among the youngest governors to ever govern a state in our great country. The second thing that struck me about the governor was the reason why he has been voted to the governorship by the citizens of the great State of Louisiana. Governor Jindal is an extremely bright, straightforward, no-nonsense conservative with a very impressive track record of success and achievement that belies his youth. It is not just that Governor Jindal has tackled some very big problems that I find very impressive (I'll share a litany with you shortly), but also his fearless nature in tackling these problems that have frustrated so many. Straight at it and with the zeal of a true believer, Mr. Jindal has battled government waste, corruption, inefficiency, bureaucracy, and largesse throughout his public career.

When I was first afforded the opportunity to meet Mr. Jindal, then Governor-elect, I leaped at the chance. As a fellow Indian American of approximately the same age, I had been following Mr Jindal's career with keen interest for some time. Our first meeting was brief, but memorable. After swapping a few pleasantries about our mutual English alma mater, he spoke gravely of Katrina and the plight of those hurt by the disaster, as well as the significant job that lay ahead as Governor of Louisiana. Since that day I've had two other opportunities to speak with Governor Jindal, and suffice it to say: I'm a very big fan.

Many are already aware of Mr. Jindal's impressive background, but rigorous scrutiny beyond the sterling academic credentials, blue chip employers, and political victories reveals a man whose entire life story is a testament to the American promise and the consistent deployment of bedrock conservative principles.

An American Story
Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to recently arrived Indian immigrant parents, Mr. Jindal started life the way many of America's citizens have, into a family that dreamed of a better life in a far away place and had the courage to pursue it. His father was one of nine children and the only one to be educated past the fifth grade. This is the kind of background that can serve to remind a person that anything is possible in life and especially in America. A Catholic since high school, Mr. Jindal's life seems to have been guided by two consistent themes: very hard work; and a steadfast adherence to a conservative orthodoxy.

Graduating Baton Rouge Magnet High School at age sixteen, Bobby Jindal left the South for the Ivy League. Opting to attend Brown University, he focused on Biology and Public Policy. Continued academic excellence was rewarded with a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, where he wrote for the New Oxford Review, and received a Masters in political science.

From Oxford he went to work for McKinsey & Company, the much vaunted management consulting firm known as a Tier 1 advisor to the largest corporations in the world. Anyone who spends any time with Mr. Jindal will immediately realize that he is not only very bright, but is willing to dive deep into any subject matter and develop thoughtful positions that are supported with detailed facts and thorough analysis. This is not a man who would prefer to employ soaring rhetoric to spew platitudes and revel in superficiality.

A Track Record of Results
In 1996, Mr. Jindal became Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. Upon his arrival the Department with its 12,000 employees represented nearly 40 percent of the state budget and was bordering on bankruptcy with a $400 million deficit. At the end of his tenure as Secretary, the Department had enjoyed three years of surpluses totaling $220 million.

By 1998, Mr. Jindal was appointed executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, a 17-member panel charged with devising plans to reform Medicare. The next year, at the request of the Governor's Office and the State Legislature, he volunteered his time to study how Louisiana might use its $4.4 billion tobacco settlement. Later that year, he became the youngest ever president of the University of Louisiana System, the 16th largest higher education system in the country which oversees the education of approximately 80,000 students a year. During his tenure he was instrumental in raising graduation rates, retention rates, increasing private donations and the number of endowed chair positions. He also implemented the state's first teacher guarantees and faculty rotation programs. In March 2001, he was nominated by President George W. Bush to be Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation. He was unanimously confirmed by a bipartisan vote of the United States Senate and began serving on July 9, 2001. In that position, he served as the principal policy advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. On February 21, 2003, he resigned to return to Louisiana and make his first run for governor. After a narrow loss, Mr. Jindal turned his attention to Congress.

 He won the congressional seat from the 1st district with 78 percent of the vote, including strong support from small business owners. In keeping with his history of over achievement, he was elected freshman class president and was appointed to the House Committee on Homeland Security, the House Committee on Resources, and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. He was made vice-chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attacks. As a Congressman, he was a member of the conservative Republican Study Committee, consistently voted with the Republican Caucus and had an A rating from Gun Owners of America.

This track record of accomplishment and discernable results combined with consistently conservative politics propelled him in his second effort for the governorship of Louisiana. The citizenry of his state, fresh from the terrible wounds of Katrina, saw in Mr. Jindal an opportunity to try something bold and grand. They opted to pursue government accountability and competence. For Mr. Jindal it was yet another opportunity to serve the people of his home state through hard work and the application of conservative policy.  

Moving the Needle
I quickly learned that Mr. Jindal is very articulate, highly intelligent and willing to bring both of those strengths to bear in any discussion. He addresses you as though you were the CEO of a very large client that deserves and demands real answers. Lately, I've heard many people refer to Gov. Jindal as a Republican version of Sen. Obama; however, my immediate reaction upon hearing him speak both publicly and privately was that he seemed more like Bill Clinton: A willingness to address any topic, engage an audience or listener, and with precision and accuracy deploy compelling statistics to argue his point. Unlike the former president however, Jindal's world view is consistently conservative with a steady and reliable preference for less regulation, less taxation, a motivated private sector that empowers individuals and leads to a smaller role for government in our lives. Also unlike Mr. Clinton, Gov. Jindal brings a track record of success from the private sector to his government job and therefore rarely confuses government for a cure-all entity. He understands exactly how the tyranny of bureaucracy works to blunt initiative and burden the spirit of anyone who dares to try and build something.

His  Louisiana governorship is already off and running with a strong reform agenda. With a tough stand on earmarks combined with big successes in the areas of ethics, taxes and regulations, Gov. Jindal is creating an impact. His new ethics law, which takes effect in January 2009, will provide more information to the public about the personal financial interests of state legislators and public officials. The law earned 99 out of a possible 100 points by the Center for Public Integrity, placing the law on par with the nation's best financial disclosure laws. Just two years ago, in the same survey, Louisiana's financial disclosure law ranked in the bottom 20%. He has had similar success eliminating burdensome anti-business taxes and promoting his state as a good place to do business. He has invested in infrastructure and is taking bold action on education and workforce transformation.

When asked what he hopes to accomplish as Governor, he sees opportunities for improvement in many areas and is steadfastly tackling problems and working to engineer real world solutions to many of his state's most pressing issues. He consistently reminds staff that there is more work than days. Primary focuses include rebuilding New Orleans to be a strong and vibrant place and turning his state into a better place for its citizenry, with greater economic opportunity, less government interference and more efficiency.

A Conservative Core Ideology
When asked virtually any question, one is given an insight into the core ideology that seems to have directed Mr. Jindal since his earliest days in public office. An optimist instead of an alarmist, he has focused on bringing the best out of his state through consistent deployment of conservative political policy and common sense government, with an eye towards empowering the private sector and a healthy respect for what government does not do well. He looks to technology to reduce costs and inefficiency. He seeks to empower free markets and encourage prudent risk taking. Whether it's his distaste for entitlement programs that were often designed decades ago, his ideas for structural changes that would limit the growth of government (a 2/3rds majority to raise any tax, a line item veto, etc.), or his desire to meaningfully change the premises of the political dialog, his conservative ideology shines through.

A classic example of this arises when I asked him about his Indian American heritage and GOP efforts to speak to a broader demographic. Eschewing identity politics, Gov. Jindal simply responds that authenticity to core conservative principles is all that is necessary. When prompted, he argues that conservatives need to continue to work hard to reframe the debate in this country. His argument is that if conservatives have the conviction to adhere to their principles and do not suffer a paucity of imagination, their ideas will be ascendant. He argues that incremental change is not enough and instead seeks to alter the debate such that we can fundamentally address what government's role ought to be in our lives and how we can structurally move to meaningfully stop its growth.

Conservatives have had many champions, and over the decades the likes of Sen. Robert A. Taft, Sen. Barry Goldwater, William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan served as beacon bearers for an ideology. Jindal has spent a lifetime in this fold and looks to continue this legacy into the next generation. George Will once described Sen. Barry Goldwater, as "a man who lost forty-four states but won the future." In Gov. Jindal, conservatives have won at least one state back.