The Biden administration has still not appointed an Ambassador to the Vatican. While most Vatican experts do not include Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards on their list of favorites for the position, with prayer, miracles can happen.

Until the fat lady sings, there is still time for the people of Louisiana to feverishly pray that the President puts our Governor to work in the Vatican. What a great honor it would be for another Louisiana native to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican. Previously, former U.S. Representative Lindy Boggs (D-New Orleans) was the country’s Ambassador to the Holy See.

Besides being a great honor, it would be a great relief for Louisiana to rid itself of a liberal Governor who is out of step with the majority of our voters and the Republican leaders of our neighboring states.

The rumors about Edwards being selected for the Vatican position have been swirling for months and for good reason. When Biden visited Louisiana recently, he compared pocket rosaries with Edwards. Both men are Catholic, but Edwards is pro-life, unlike Biden. This position is in line with Catholic teaching, and he is one of the few prominent pro-life Democrats remaining in the party.

If Edwards is selected, Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser would assume the state’s top job for the remainder of the term. This needs to happen immediately, for Edwards has done incredible damage to our state. His liberal tax and spend policies alone have been catastrophic.

Louisiana is stuck in economic hell while states such as Florida and Texas are expanding with increasing population and business.

While those states have Republican Governors, who make aggressive decisions to improve their private sector, John Bel Edwards is more concerned about expanding our state government. During his tenure, the state budget has expanded by an astounding $8 billion while the population of Louisiana has been stagnant and the outmigration of our businesses and top earners has continued unabated.

Louisiana suffers from one of the lowest economic growth rates in the nation. The state is also last in the nation for economic development and is saddled with one of the highest unemployment rates. Our major industries, such as oil and gas and hospitality and tourism have been struggling.

During the height of the pandemic, Edwards locked down the state with restrictive mandates. In contrast, states with Republican leadership remained open. The result was that the rate of COVID-19 was not higher in these red states, instead, the rate of economic activity was noticeably better.

For over a year, Edwards enforced draconian mask mandates and economic lockdowns while neighboring states flourished with freedom. Both Texas and Florida dropped the mask mandate quite early and have issued executive orders outlawing vaccine passports. In Louisiana, Edwards has refused to protect citizens from unconstitutional vaccine passports.

In recent months, residents in red states have seen the benefits of courageous leadership. For example, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is leading the way on especially important issues. He signed a new law punishing social media companies that engage in censorship. DeSantis also supported a state education board initiative that banned the teaching of critical race theory in schools.

In Louisiana, social media companies are free to discriminate against conservatives, while a bill to outlaw the teaching of critical race theory failed in the legislature after receiving no support from Governor Edwards.

With the legislative session over, Edwards is set to veto bills that protect female athletes from competing with biological males and give citizens the right to constitutional carry firearms.

He already vetoed a bill that would have prevented billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg from funding election offices in the state. In the 2020 election, Zuckerberg and his wife spent $400 million to interfere with elections in swing states, expanding early voting and providing other services that increased the number of Democratic votes. It is no surprise that these were the states that delivered an election “victory” to Joe Biden.

Edwards has shown no desire to protect historical monuments in the state or protect the teaching of true American history to our students. Other than his tepid support for pro-life and Second Amendment issues, Edwards is a total pawn of the radical Democrats who operate the party nationally.

With Edwards as Governor, Louisiana is an economic backwater stagnant and falling further behind our Southern neighbors. Our business tax structure is burdensome, and our education system is languishing. He has provided no vision and no courageous leadership. His administration is merely rearranging the deck chairs on our economic Titanic.

We need to change the way we do business in the state and make Louisiana more competitive. Clearly, Edwards is not the Governor we need as he has been a dismal failure. Instead, he is a perfect fit for a Biden administration that has had the worst start in U.S. presidential history.

The liberal philosophy that Edwards and Biden share do not reflect the people of Louisiana. We need gubernatorial leadership that is in line with the views of our citizens. This is another reason Edwards needs to leave the most important political job in the state.

Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser is a Republican who will be more business friendly and more open to the type of radical change our state needs to compete. Until Edwards vacates the Governor’s office, Louisiana will continue to fall further behind, and our citizens will watch more of our family and friends leave the state in search of better economic opportunities elsewhere.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs nationally on Real America’s Voice Network, AmericasVoice.News weekdays at 7 a.m. CT and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on Crouere.net. For more information, email him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com