Ginned Up for Bobby?

A few days ago, The Washington Post published a piece about how Louisiana Governor - and 2016 Presidential hopeful - Bobby Jindal is using the story of his conversion to Christianity as a way to appeal to conservative voters for whom religion is a particular touch point. At this point, we all know that politics is the ritualized display of monetized cynicism, but somehow Jindal's current push seems just that much more off-putting to me. It's not that I doubt the sincerity of his faith but rather because he's so willing to leverage (what I'm willing to believe is) a genuine conviction in the service of a political campaign, a process which almost by definition is antithetical to genuine conviction. It doesn't help matters that Jindal seems unaware that, even if he prevails in the GOP primaries, it would be more of a victory for Jindal's Democratic Party opponent. The majority of swing voters he'd need to get elected on a national level aren't going to vote for someone whose speech pattern so closely resembles Kenneth the Page from 30 Rock.