WASHINGTON: Preparing ground for his potential presidential run in 2016, Indian-American Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal has slammed Barack Obama as the worst president in history and took a dig at his inability to stop Russia from invading Ukraine.

"To President Carter, I want to issue a sincere apology. It is no longer fair to say he was the worst president of this great country in my lifetime. President Obama has proven me wrong," 42-year-old Jindal told a conservative political action committee on Friday.

In his address, Jindal criticised Obama on his foreign policy front at a time when the Russia has taken military action in Ukraine.

"I spent a lot of 2012 going around the country saying that President Obama was the most liberal and most incompetent president in my lifetime, ever since Jimmy Carter," the Republican leader said.

"Now, having witnessed the events abroad these last several days, as we see the president of Russia invade a neighbouring country while our president wants to downsize our military, while our president brags about the increased spending on food stamps

"....seeing a president that doesn't understand that a strong America leads to a peaceful, more stable world, seeing a president who doesn't understand that a weak America leads to instability, seeing a president who doesn't seem to understand that our allies and our enemies alike need and want a strong America," said Jindal, who is widely being seen as a potential Republican presidential candidate.

In his speech marked with applause and laughter, Jindal also criticised the economic and domestic policies of Obama.

"This President talks about class warfare and dividing an ever-shrinking economic pie. That's not the American dream I learned about from my parents.

"The American dream I learned about was a country where the circumstances of your birth don't determine your outcomes as an adult, an America where we can do better than our parents — an America where every child is told, you, too, could be the first in our family to go to school.

"You could be the first in our family to become a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer or start your own businesses," he said.

"This President graduated from some of the best schools in the country. If I were him — and if he would like some free advice — if I were him, I'd consider suing Harvard Law School to get his money back because I'm not sure what he learned in three years," Jindal said amidst cheers and applause.

"This administration has assaulted our religious liberties. It has assaulted the American dream. It's trying to redefine the American Dream so that success is defined by government assistance. That's not the American dream; that's an American nightmare."