IT’S NO ACCIDENT that, when Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal gave the Republican rebuttal to President Obama’s mini State of the Union address this week, he spent time talking up his own Obama-ness. For better or worse, he is the GOP’s Great Brown Hope for reinvention and relevance in the age of Obama.

Alluding to Obama’s Kenyan father, Jindal talked about his Punjabi parents, who instilled in him an “immigrant wonder about the greatness of America.” The fact that we have an African-American president and an Asian-American governor speaking for the loyal opposition is a milestone in the history of race relations in America—a signal that we have moved the discourse beyond black and white.

It was certainly easy to miss this point given the subject of the evening, i.e. the shitty state of the national economy. But for those of us who have long wondered, “Where is the yellow in the red, white, and blue?”, it was nice to see a few more Asian faces in the corridors of powers, regardless of political affiliation. Like Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, the first Vietnamese-American member of Congress who, coincidentally, is a Republican Catholic from Louisiana, like Jindal.

Also stepping into the national limelight were Steven Chu, Obama’s Energy secretary, and Veterans Affairs secretary Eric Shinseki. Soon to join them is former Washington governor Gary Locke, whose nomination as Commerce secretary is expected shortly. Locke was the first Chinese-American governor in the U.S.

Among his duties at Commerce, Locke would oversee the 2010 Census, which has important implications for political representation. Asians now make up about 5 percent of the U.S. population. A number that’s rising as fast as Bobby Jindal’s star. •