Bobby Jindal is reported to be an intelligent, highly educated man, articulate, charismatic and a rising star among his partisan peers. But none of that will do him the slightest good as long as he remains philosophically trapped in a zombie political party that is hell bent on avoiding nationalization.

The nation had just witnessed a truly masterful speech by President Obama, in which he told the nation, "We will rebuild, we will recover and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before."

Obama followed that acclamation by citing just a few of the many accomplishments achieved in just 30 days, an unprecedented set of foundation stones designed to rebuild the country, lead to recovery while holding struggling Americans above water while we rebuild. It’s a list of many of the things you’d want your government to do if it were run by smart, mature and responsible people dedicated to rescuing the country from a hydra-headed catastrophe. But Bobby Jindal’s speech tells us he and his party just don’t get it.

The American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act is a bundle of gifts to America’s future, gifts the American people and their media will be unwrapping over many months. There is an Energy Reform and Investment package, a Health Care Reform Downpayment package, a National Infrastructure Investment package, an Unemployment Compensation Reform and Funding package, an Energy Transformation and Investment package, and an Education Reform and Investment package. And while this is all kicking in, there are tens of billions to help states and their struggling citizens make it through the transition.

The polls are showing overwhelming approval of this Administration’s remarkable beginning. After 30 years of listening to Republicans yelling that "government is the problem," the American people can see, for the first time in recent memory, that there is a Democratic President and Congress harnessing government to do everything they can to revitalize the country. Americans can see they now have a government trying to solve the nation’s crushing problems; but they can also see who’s just saying no, obstructing and posturing.

But Jindal and his zombie party can’t figure this out. A tiny handful of Republican sympathizers are desperately trying to tell their party how irrelevant it has become, but it’s leaderless Congressional minions, Fox News and toxic talk shows hosts and Presidential wannabees are not listening; they remain clueless.

If the Republican Party were banks, we’d seize them, throw out their toxic assets, recapitalize them with new ideas and new management, and try to sell them back to new owners. But you can’t do that with political parties, so we’re just going to have to watch an irrelevant Zombie Party flail around for a long time. Fine with me.

Update: Krugman’s blog has a similar take.