Obama v. Jindal. Round 2. Health Care. It's Not Pretty.

Five months ago, Republican rising star Gov. Bobby Jindal was tapped to formally respond to President Barack Obama's address to the joint session of Congress. Jindal's fact-challenged speech [1], dismissive of basic government functions like protecting against natural disasters [2], delivered with an odd, halting sing-song voice provided a laughable contrast to the President's inspirational oratory championing a bold agenda for change. Jindal was quickly compared to the comically slow Kenneth The Page from "30 Rock," [3] and he has kept fairly quiet ever since.

Until today.

As the President kicks off a week of intense campaigning for health care reform, Jindal too is re-emerging in the national debate, seeking to help lead the obstructionists.

How did Round 2 go?

Obama did what he does best, subtly mock the ridiculousness of conventional Washington politics [4], ripping the latest talking point that we need "more time," undercutting the attempt to obstruct without bothering win the policy debate on the merits:

Now, we've talked this problem to death, year after year. But unless we act -- and act now -- none of this will change...

...Now, there are some in this town who are content to perpetuate the status quo, are in fact fighting reform on behalf of powerful special interests. There are others who recognize the problem, but believe -- or perhaps, hope -- that we can put off the hard work of insurance reform for another day, another year, another decade.

Just the other day, one Republican senator said -- and I'm quoting him now -- "If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him." Think about that. This isn't about me. This isn't about politics. This is about a health care system that is breaking America's families, breaking America's businesses, and breaking America's economy.

Jindal did what he does best. Lie.

In a Politico op-ed (so badly written Sarah Palin must have ghost-written it), Jindal claims: [5]

Businesses will, in effect, be forced to send employees into the Democrats’ government-run health care. It’s really not something to argue about, it is a fact.

What is inarguable is that's a lie.

No business will be "forced" to move employees into the proposed public plan option. The pending bill would require most businesses, except those with 25 of fewer employees, to either provide private insurance or contribute to a public plan which their employees would then most likely join on their accord.

Jindal used classic weasel language to back up his baseless assertion: "One independent study already suggested that up to 119 million Americans will end up leaving their private plans for the public plan. To think otherwise requires one to suspend disbelief."

Or to actually read the study.

As Media Matters Action Network notes [6], "The point of the [Lewin Group] study was to show that the number of people who would eventually join a government-sponsored public insurance plan would vary - dramatically - depending on how that plan is designed."

Further, the Congressional Budget Office, looking at the design of an actual bill, last week estimated only 11 million would enroll in the public plan. [7]

Jindal, unsurprisingly, was all too happy to cherry-pick CBO quotes about the potential impact on the deficit (which the White House has already proposed a solution to address the CBO's concern [8]), then ignore other CBO data that undercuts his claims, preferring to go cherry-pick numbers from another study.

Once again, we have another mismatch.

Obama's candor while seeking to solve problems has continually trumped the obstructionist attempt to spread smears and fears. While Jindal is merely another practitioner of the same Washington politics that have led to the present health care mess.