Oil Spill Gives Bobby Jindal a 2nd Chance

Bobby Jindal, last seen spectacularly botching his response to an Obama speech last year, may have resurrected his political career thanks to the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. The Louisiana governor has ironically been calling for a bigger government response, and criticizing BP's slow, incompetent efforts to fix the leak. In the process, he's managed to piss off both the White House and some Republicans who think he's being too hard on Big Oil, Politico reports.

Jindal's vigorous response—he's been briefed non-stop on the intricacies of the situation, huddles daily with federal officials, and has toured all the affected areas—may have revived his never-secret national ambitions. But allies say he's actually more worried about avoiding comparisons to his predecessor's woeful response to Hurricane Katrina. “Dealing with this kind of disaster is definitely why he believes he was put in office,” says a Republican Governors Association official. (More Bobby Jindal stories.)