Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal was supposed to be the conservative answer to President Barack Obama: A first-generation Indian-American who rejected offers from Harvard med and Yale law to study political science on a Rhodes scholarship. He was the whiz-bang wonk who would use his policy smarts to lift the Republican Party from its doldrums with innovative solutions and vision, catapulting himself to the White House in the process. Such lofty prognostications, common seven years ago, are few and far between these days.