Bobby Jindal wants to steal Ted Cruz's ObamaCare thunder

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) writes in a Fox News op-ed Monday that, despite the "conventional wisdom on the cocktail circuit" and the chatter in the "elite salons of Washington," ObamaCare can still be repealed.

"The only reason we can't accomplish both objectives [to slow healthcare spending and repeal ObamaCare] is political will — because Washington needs a Beltway-sized reality check," he writes.

Though ostensibly a policy primer, Jindal's op-ed also doubles as a campaign pitch tuned to the key of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas.) Both politicians are believed to be considering White House bids, though Jindal has yet to gain a fraction of the attention heaped on Cruz and other potential candidates. So in taking up Cruz's ObamaCare repeal mantle and, like Cruz, offering plenty of dogmatic red meat — the op-ed bashes "Beltway insiders," and includes lines like "we are not willing to quit on the idea of America" — Jindal is angling to present himself to conservative voters as a viable alternative in 2016.

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Unlike most other Republicans calling for ObamaCare repeal, Jindal has offered his own plan to replace the law. Yet hitching his hopes to the increasingly unpopular idea of ObamaCare repeal may turn out to be a myopic approach.