Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal announces his candidacy for the 2016 Presidential nomination during a rally on June 24. (Agence France-Presse)
Relegated to the second tier of the Republican presidential debate, Bobby Jindal stuck to familiar themes yesterday dominated by two persons who were not even there - Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Louisiana's Indian-American Governor Jindal took the stage at a forum in Cleveland, Ohio yesterday along with six other low-polling Republican candidates who could not make the cut for the main event restricted to top ten candidates by hosts Fox News.
The very first question that Mr Jindal fielded was about how he hopes to be elected president, when he polled behind Democratic frontrunner Ms Clinton in his own state.
Mr Jindal said he had won two landslide elections in Louisiana and sought to explain away his current unpopularity by his inclination to do what was right in Louisiana, even if it didn't always please the public.
On his first day as president, said Mr Jindal, he would try to repeal Obamacare, undo "sanctuary cities" for illegal immigrants and put extra protections in place for religious people.
"Simply expanding Medicaid doesn't improve healthcare outcomes," said Mr Jindal when asked why he hasn't accepted extra federal money for the programme in Louisiana. "I don't think anybody should expand Medicaid."
Returning to another familiar theme, he accused President Barack Obama and Ms Clinton of dividing the country and that he was sick and tired of hyphenated Americans and the US must insist on assimilation by immigrants.
The second tier Republican presidential hopefuls were asked how they hoped to fare against Ms Clinton and Mr Trump "the elephant which was not in the room" given their low poll numbers.
Former Texas governor Rick Perry contrasted Mr Trump's tough talk on immigration control to his own record, where he deployed the National Guard to stem the tide of illegal immigrants.
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina suggested Mr Trump "had tapped into an anger that people feel," but his shifting positions on key issues made him untrustworthy.
Asked to describe Ms Hillary Clinton in two words given then - Sen. Barack Obama's description of her as "likeable enough" during a 2008 Democratic primary debate - Mr Jindal said: "Socialist and government dependence."
Ms Fiorina said she was "Not trustworthy, no accomplishment" and Mr Perry called her "Good at email."