Ladies and gentlemen, Bobby Jindal has left the building. He is no longer in the business of making outlandish statements as a constant reminder that he, too, is running for president. Let us take a moment to reflect on Jindal’s departure from the race. The best way to do that is through the words of W.H. Auden. (Although there are surely other ways.)
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
Someone amongst the 0.25 percent of Republican voters that said out loud they intended to vote for Jindal must have felt that strongly about his candidacy. Generating enthusiasm (or momentum of any kind) was hard for the Louisiana governor even among his own family. Jindal announced he was running for president in an unconventional way: He released a nanny cam–like video of he and his wife breaking the news to his kids. And, in the end, it set the meh tone for the entire campaign.
In fairness, Jindal, despite poll numbers that showed his support was always within the margin of error of literally zero people voting for him, did manage to outlast rivals with bigger names, like Scott Walker and Rick Perry. Jindal’s announcement came via an interview with Fox News and a campaign Facebook post on Tuesday evening. “I cannot tell you what an honor it has been to run for President of the United States of America,” Jindal wrote. “One of the things I will do is go back to work at the think tank I started a few years ago—where I will be outlining a blueprint for making this the American century.”
*This post has been updated to indicate that Bobby Jindal announced the end of his campaign on Fox News.
