For a skinny policy wonk who has been dropped into a group of hard-nosed shrimp fishermen, the opportunity to demonstrate one's small-town bona fides can't have been more welcome.

There, in a red-and-white paper food tray, sits a lump of tar about the size of a baseball – the kind of toxic oil now threatening the Louisiana marshland. The president of this blue-collar parish, Craig Taffaro, cradles the paper tray awkwardly, showing it to the throng of TV cameras. “Okay, I'm not supposed to touch it, I was told not to touch it. The governor…”

But Bobby Jindal, the policy-wonk governor, has already seen his chance. He grabs the tar ball with his bare hand, holding it up for the cameras. Laughter breaks out, in appreciation of his folksy disregard for rules.

To read the full article, please click on this link to the Globe and Mail

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