Jindal mum on 2012 White House bid; criticizes Obama on response to oil spill

Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-La.) declined to answer a question about his 2012 presidential intentions during an interview on NBC's "Today Show" Monday morning.

Jindal, who is up for reelection in 2011, said his gubernatorial campaign is his priority.

"I'm running for reelection next year. You'll have a lot of Republicans in Iowa. I'm sure I'll be in Louisiana," he said.

Taking the opportunity to tout his work as governor, he said: "I do think there are things we've done in Louisiana. We have cut taxes. We were talking before, our economy is outperforming the national economy. Portfolio.com said we had the second best economic performance during the recession. There are a whole list of numbers. Our unemployment rate's been below the southern and national averages."

Asked if he was trying to raise his national profile, Jindal said: "I want folks across the country to see what we've done in Louisiana. I think they can learn from those experiences. I think if the federal government would do what we did — cut spending, cut taxes — we'd have more, better paying jobs in the private sector for our children and grandchildren."

Jindal told the New Orleans Times-Picayune, however, that he's not running.

"I know there's been speculation since almost the first day I took this office about my plans," he said. "There was speculation even in the last presidential cycle. I've made it very clear: I've got the job I want. I'm running for re-election next year. I'm not running for president."

The governor was on the "Today Show" to promote his book "Leadership and Crisis," which goes on sale today.

In the interview with NBC's Matt Lauer, Jindal talked about President Obama's May visit to Louisiana to examine the damage from the oil spill.

"I thought he'd be mad about the oil, I thought he'd be worried about the impact on our wetlands, or the lack of boom and resources. He's mad about a routine letter we have sent to the agricultural department about food stamps," Jindal said. "A second example. They literally shut down vacuum barges that are picking up thousands of gallons of oil in the water to count the number of life jackets and fire extinguishers. It just seemed like they were disconnected from the reality on the ground."

He then touted his response to the spill.

"The federal government didn't want to do vacuum barges. I ordered the National Guard to build a couple of prototypes. First one literally was a truck, the kind of truck you use to clean porta potties, same kind of technology" he said. "And it worked. And all of a sudden the federal government authorized dozens of those. We had the National Guard out there building land bridges to block the oil from coming into the wetlands. … The reality is, it worked. And the reality is, it prevented that oil from getting into the wetlands 15 to 20 miles away."

Jindal also criticized the Obama administration's response to the spill in his interview with the Times-Picayune.

He said he and his staff concluded the best way to prod the federal government into action was to take to the airwaves and complain.

"There was a pattern during the oil spill," Jindal told the paper. "If the media discovered it, all of a sudden we'd get response from the White House."