Today's Investor's Business Daily features a superb editorial contrasting the media treatment of Barrack Obama and Bobby Jindal, two about—to—be freshman members of Congress. Some highlights:

Two minority candidates in 2004 rose from modest circumstances to election to Congress. But only one is on the cover of Newsweek, has a multimillion—dollar book deal and has appeared on Letterman. Why? [....]

one suspects that had Jindal been a Democrat, this 33—year—old Brown University Rhodes Scholar, who became head of Louisiana's $4 billion Health and Hospitals Department at age 24, president of the University of Louisiana system at 27 and a top adviser on health policy to the president at 29, would not be a political trivia question.

As head of Louisiana's health care system, he was able to turn the state's $400 million Medicaid deficit into a surplus.

His record of achievement in that state almost propelled him into the governor's mansion. He might have made had it not been for media bias and Democratic hypocrisy.

Obama is hailed by Newsweek as one of 10 "who will shape our world in 2005" and who will "inevitably make most short lists for vice president" in 2008. But when Jindal was running for governor of Louisiana, New York Times editorial writer Adam Cohen, in a so—called profile, hinted that Jindal's "freakishly impressive" resume wasn't the most important thing voters needed to know.

To Cohen, Jindal was the "dark—skinned son of immigrants from India." Dark—skinned. Not brilliant. Not accomplished. Dark—skinned. Cohen wasn't alone. An October 2003 article in the Los Angeles Times article also referred to Jindal as "dark—skinned," as did two dispatches from The Associated Press, lest hicks forget.

A TV ad in the final weeks of the campaign echoed this theme, with what Republicans insist was a picture of Jindal touched up to make his skin look darker than it was and with disheveled hair, titled "Wake Up, Louisiana." At the end, the announcer solemnly intoned: "They hope we won't wake up until it's too late."

The usual suspects who complained about Willie Horton and routinely paint the GOP as being insensitive to minorities and guilty of tokenism were silent about the coverage and the campaign.