McCain’s “Joe the Plumber” is essentially a figment. He’s not a plumber, he’s casual about paying the taxes he already owes, and “Joe” is his middle name.
McCain is trying desperately to find an angle to Obama’s tax plan that a non-trivial number of voters will find objectionable. The real problem from McCain’s perspective is that Obama’s plan will cost the very few rich few in the country some money. But, at the moment, most Americans have their own problems and aren’t terribly inclined to feel too sorry about those netting over $250,000 having to pay an extra 3% on their income to the extent it exceeds a quarter of a million dollars.
So, he comes up with Joe the Plumber. America is the land of possibility, so most of us who aren’t pulling down big bucks sort of figure if we work hard and play by the rules, it’s just a matter of time before we break it big. “Joe the Plumber” is the kind of guy we might be some day; or so the story goes. (I came across a statistic that 40% of American’s believe themselves to be in the wealthiest 10% or somesuch — I’ve also come across a figure that 20% of all statistics are wrong.) Anyway, we see ourselves as potentially being like “Joe” who works long days and has now worked himself into position to hit the big time.
That guy may be out there, but it’s not the guy cited by McCain. “Joe the Plumber” is really Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher. He’s not a licensed plumber. Apparently he’s been doing unlicensed work for a licensed plumber in violation of the laws of Ohio and Toledo. He has a tax lien against him for unpaid back taxes owed to the state of Ohio in the amount of $1,182. And, more importantly, his income? “Not even close” to the rate where the Obama plan would increase his taxes. His goal of buying the business was “more aspirational.”
I haven’t heard anything suggesting he was actively in league with the McCain campaign. So, presuming he wasn’t, he’s guilty of nothing more (politically anyway — looks like he’s sideways with the authorities of Toledo & Ohio) than being a bit of a knucklehead who wanted to stir the pot when Obama was in town. The McCain campaign, on the other hand, looks ridiculous after this fiasco. If you’re going to find a living embodiment of a middle class businessman you’re using as a pretext for not increasing taxes on the very wealthy, make sure you vet him thoroughly. And if you haven’t vetted him thoroughly, don’t make him the centerpiece of your last debate performance.
Abe Lincoln was an unlicensed lawyer. What of it?
I think the guy shares some responsibility. Okay, Senator Obama was on his block and he decided to be somewhat dickish about it. Fine. If Obama strolls through Broad Ripple, and I happen to be on the street, I’m more likely to ask him about FISA or Afghanistan than to pledge my undying fealty. But if after eight years of the Bush administration a middle-aged “Joe” hasn’t figured out that lying to make a point you can’t make otherwise is a bad habit of mind, he at least could have been expected to learn it by virtue of having a 13-year-old son.
This goes beyond vetting. There’s no way “Joe’s” story panned out, excepting, I suppose, if the business were being given away; and if the owner’s legitimately taking in a quarter of a million per–or some higher multiple of that “Joe” had factored down to cover his purchase/start-up costs–in an ongoing concern, with employees, then you have to wonder why he’d be having a fire sale, don’t ya? Or how “Joe” comes to be sitting on a pile of cash several times that size, or an equivalent line of credit. Of course, as it turns out “Joe” seems to have confused gross receipts with personal profit, which suggests he ought to reconsider not only his competence to run a small business, but his competence to make simple political judgments; he may have already learned to keep them to himself. As for McCain, anybody who can’t tell when FAUX News is lying should suspend his campaign permanently. Or have we not yet realized what celebrating personal and intellectual dishonesty leads to?
He is a plumber – he is working under the supervision of a licensed plumber, and nearly has the five years of experience needed to apply for his own license.
Now, does anyone care to discuss the salient point – that Obama gave a socialist answer to a capitalist question?
And that holds true even if Joe the Plumber was an illegal alien – from Mars…
Or is irrelevant character assassination just more useful to the cause?
And a BTW – how about the liens against Obama’s campaign treasurer? Aren’t they just a trifle more germane?
I thought the out of control man that called Senator Obama a socialist was a plant, and now finding out Joe the Plumber once lived in Alaska…?
“a socialist answer”.
The GOP doesn’t get to use that talking point anymore. In the last 6 months, under a Republican President, this country has moved further towards socialism than anytime in its history. Even FDR didn’t want to socialize the banks.
Or is your “socialism” only a bad thing when the poor people get the benefits?
Chris –
There are benefits?
BTW, I am not the GOP, and that’s not a talking point – it’s a reasonable characterization of the question and the answer.
Anyone care to address the point, or do we just go forward with more side issues?
Oh, wait, sorry – that seems to have been the whole point of this post. Never mind, then…
The problem is that he was used as the personification of something he is not — a guy who worked hard and played by the rules and was going to run a small business that would be penalized by Obama’s tax plan.
He may work hard, but he apparently hasn’t been playing by the rules. More relevant, he’s “not even close” to being hurt by Obama’s tax plan.
Certainly McCain could’ve used Paris Hilton in another ad since she’ll probably do worse under Obama’s tax plan; but when voters have an accurate idea of who is going to do worse under Obama’s tax plan, they find they are more or less cool with it.
And McCain can argue that the Hiltons and the Cindy McCains shouldn’t be taxed more, but McCain can’t do it under the guise of a general opposition to socialism, given the recent bank bailouts. He’ll have to argue that Paris and Cindy worked harder than the rest of us and that’s why they have a lot of money and we don’t.
I’m with you on having a real bad feeling about the bank bailouts – I’d be happier if more of the people involved in ‘fixing’ this acknowledged that they are fixing a screw-up that has been over thirty years in the making, and that they were in it up to their necks.
As for Joe the Plumber, the point doesn’t change if he was an android programmed by Karl Rove – Obama’s answer to his question demonstrates a belief that government redistribution of income is a really good thing.
Are you ever hoping to do better financially than you are now? Employ some folks, maybe?
Or do you just want to work harder and become more productive so you can give it to the feds to ‘spread around’?
If so, how popular will that attitude be in the long run? The experience of the Plymouth Colony is instructive in this regard, unless you think human nature has changed a lot since then.