I just read this morning that Gov. Bobby Jindal decided to veto the bill that the legislature had passed that would have given themselves a 125% pay raise.

Part of Jindal's platform while running for Governor was that he would not allow the legislature to give themselves a pay raise... unwilling to be a part of Jindal's "clean up Louisiana politics campaign" the legislature turned up their noses to Jindal's campaign promise and passed a bill that would raise their salary from $16,800 to $37,500. Which would also have made them receive the number 12 highest salary out of the 50 states... meanwhile our teachers' salaries are ranked 42 in the nation.

While this is certainly great news for Louisianians, I find there is also a national parallel in play here.

Jindal is 37 years old with little experience in the political scene. While he has an overwhelming support in Louisiana, he still is learning his way. I feel like by promising the public that he would not allow the legislature to vote in a pay increase, they all decided to stick it to him and show him that his promises wouldn't always be easy to keep.

Jindal was caught in a catch 22. If he didn't veto the bill, we (the residents) would have all been PISSED. But now that he has vetoed the bill, he faces a very angry legislature which will make passing his promised ethics reform bills/term limit bills/and positive things for the state that much harder.

I feel like this is most likely a common mistake of any "junior" in politics. Promise a lot, but not really fully comprehend how those promises will be kept. In fact, I can't get Obama out of my head on this one. I feel like a lot of the things he's promising, a lot of the issues he's pushing, could quite easily have the same fate. Get in office (God, I hope not!) and then face an unfriendly legislature who want to play politics as usual - you scratch my back, I'll scratch your's.

What do you guys think?