The first thing to say is that Bobby Jindal's ideas are unworkable, ideologically rigid and completely out of touch with what the country needs. That being said, the criticism of his speaking style and mannerisms has gotten out of hand - I thought the whole thing had passed until I saw a front page post mocking his preparation to speak last night.
Let me make clear in no uncertain terms that the community is hitting a very raw nerve with an Asian-American, because the criticism has very strong elements of the typical way that hard-working, honest Asian-American leaders are dismissed.
There aren't mashups comparing John Edwards to a patently ridiculous, naive character that have gone viral. The element of curiosity and surprise that a Southern accent and a plain-speaking tone is coming out of a Asian American's mouth is a big reason why people find the video amusing.
Using this incongruity against him is a sore spot - we often question why in college admissions or job interviews despite higher grades and test scores we lose out to Caucasian applicants with similar or lesser objective measures. We are told that there are "intangible leadership qualities" that make the difference between admission and denial, or that management job and the engineering one. We speak fluent English as the American-born children of immigrants, and we watch our parents passed over time and time again for management jobs despite their technical expertise.
Sometimes I wonder if somehow American society doesn't view us something like androids who are not quite human - relegated to the Uncanny Valley of resemblance where our hard work and assimilation becomes a detriment rather than an asset.
In that context, posting a video of Jindal for reminding himself to "speak slow" and trying to decide on what speaking mannerisms to use amounts to a subtle message that "he's not one of us - he has to practice to look like an American."
Let me make this clear. You may complain that these standards aren't applied to white politicians who speak in patently ridiculous tones, like Sarah Palin. The standards are indeed different because, like criticizing Barack Obama for using the word "hoodwinked", you have to understand the (often unrealized) racial message and context your criticism conveys.
The other presidential contenders on the Right Wing are piling on Jindal because they have their knives out for his position as leading contender for the nomination. It's great to mock his ideas, his dishonesty about Katrina assistance, his wrong solutions for America - but don't play into the stereotypes about successful Asian-Americans and play into the hands of a other Republican contenders that would like nothing better than subtle racism, rather than his merits as a policy maker, to bring him down.