Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) said Tuesday he supports President Obama’s plan to counter the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), even as he blamed his foreign policy for allowing the terror group’s rise.
Jindal said that the president already had the authority to carry out airstrikes against the Sunni al Qaeda offshoot, but urged lawmakers to also provide Title X authority and funding so the administration can train and arm vetted Syrian rebel groups.
{mosads}“I do personally think he has the authority in this case to do limited strikes,” Jindal told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast in Washington.
He added that “absolutely … Congress should support the administration’s request” to fund arming moderate Syrian rebel groups.
“This is a terrorist group that threatens U.S. interests,” he said.
Jindal, though, also criticized the president, saying that Obama’s “leading from behind has made the world more dangerous,” and that “his dithering, his delaying has allowed” ISIS to grow stronger.
Later, in an address at the conservative Heritage Fondation, Jindal described Obama as “incompetent” and “radically ideological,” charging that the president’s “dithering” allowed ISIS to take over large swaths of Iraq and Syria.
“Our enemies don’t fear us, our friends don’t trust us,” said Jindal, who called for the next U.S. administration to “restore American credibility overseas.”
Jindal’s comments come as House Republicans unveiled a measure Monday that would provide funding for Obama’s plan to aid Syrian rebel groups. Lawmakers could vote on the amendment to a spending bill as early as Wednesday.
The Louisiana governor is openly contemplating a presidential run and has been traveling the nation to campaign for governors as he gauges support for a bid. He’s also been rolling out planks of what could be a policy platform for his bid, and on Tuesday he unveiled his energy plan.
The plan calls for increased production of domestic oil, gas coal and nuclear power, but only briefly addresses what he refers to as the “possible risks of climate change.”
During the Tuesday morning breakfast, Jindal expressed skepticism over how much impact human activity is having on climate change, and slammed the Obama administration as “science deniers.”
“The reality is right now we’ve got an administration in the Obama administration that are science deniers when it comes to harnessing America’s energy resources and potential to create good-paying jobs for our economy and for our future,” Jindal said. “Right now we’ve got an administration whose policies are holding our economy hostage.”
“It’s not controversial to say human activity is contributing in some way to [climate] change,” he added, “In terms of how much it is and how serious it is, I say let the scientists decide that. Let’s not have politicians decide that.”
The governor has positioned himself within the potential 2016 Republican presidential field as a social conservative policy wonk, and on Tuesday dodged multiple questions about whether he believes in evolution. Jindal said only that he believes “as a father and as a husband … that local schools should make a decision on how they teach.” But he added that he wants his children to be taught about evolution in school.
Jindal said he plans to decide after November whether he’ll run in 2016.
“It is true [I’m thinking about it]. There’s no reason to be coy,” he said. “I am thinking, I am praying about whether I’ll run in 2016. I said I won’t make that decision until after November.”
Jesse Byrnes contributed to this story.
This story was updated at 1:05 p.m.