Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has been a rising star in the Republican Party, but his stock took a hit as he was roundly panned for his televised response to President Obama’s first speech to Congress on Tuesday night.

Conservative commentators were among the harshest critics, calling Mr. Jindal’s delivery animatronic, his prose “cheesy” and his message  that federal spending is not the answer to the nation’s economic problems  uninspired.

Mr. Jindal, 37, the son of Indian immigrants, has been regarded as a potential presidential candidate in 2012 who would bring diversity and youth to a post-Obama Republican Party.

But the speech raised questions.

“This was the moment for him to seize the mantle with new ideas, new direction, and lay the groundwork for himself as a creative new thinker,” said Thomas Schaller, a political scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “He just used old platitudes and party clichés.”