Woops, there it is, did you miss it? It was fast so don't feel bad if you missed it, but the final parting snap shot of the McCain campaign disolving into political history will be associated with one man and it is not John, but rather, Joe...Joe "The Plumber." Often, political junkies and pundits like to refer to "gaffes" (usually associated as a negative word), a comment made by a candidate that can completely change the face of an election, and if its a big gaffe, it usually transcends from political culture to that of popular and of historical significance.Such gaffes have been Gerald Ford's '76 debate statement that "There is no Soviet domination in Eastern Europe...and there never will be." you can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8rg9c4pUrg
After this statement Ford lost his lead in the polls and then the election. Others? There was Democratic hopeful candidate Gary Hart who challenged the media to prove he was having an affair. Sure enough, Hart was found by photographers on a boat called "Monkey Business" with his young mistress Donna Rice. Hart, the front runner, dropped out of the race. There have been countless others, but the question is, do they live on and define the legacy or the character by which we remeber the candidate, or impact how presidential campaigns are analyzed?
Joe identified himself to Barack Obama on the campaign trail. He told Obama that he was planning on buying a plumbing business that he works for, and went on to politely confront Obama, concerned that Obama was going to tax him because he would be making $250k a year as the owner of the business. Obama is calling for a tax cut for 95% of working Americans and an increase for those that make a quarter of a million dollars a year, which returns the tax bracket to what it was in the Clinton years, when the US economy experienced its most prosperous era in history. With that, Joe the Plumber was born, and then adopted by John McCain to raise as his own. The myth of Joe the Plumber will serve as McCain's defining campaign moment, his last chance to convince America that he is just one of us, that we can all identify with him, and that Joe was just one of us like McCain. And so, as the third 2008 Presidential debate progressed, Joe the Plumber was mentioed 25 times. The problem here? Joe is a fictitious character like Joe 6-pack.
It turns out that Joe is not who he lead Obama to believe, and furthermore, Joe is not even a licensed plumber. For that matter Joe is nowhere near ready to buy the business that he was concerned would affect his personal income if he made $250,000 per year (his business wouldn't be affected under Obama's plan). Instead, Joe actually owes $1,182.00 in taxes and has a lien placed on him by the state of Ohio since 2007. Don't worry Joe, thats all I'm going to say about you, but you made it interesting for 12 hours.
So, why does this matter? It may not, but I believe that it is a small detail that represents how the McCain campaign will be remebered...McCain was never able to identify with non-in the tank voters, that was the real problem for McCain. Even once John had Joe to call on, he turned out to be fictitious, just like a personal connection with American voter appears to be any time he attempts it. However, I don't blame McCain, rather, John ran at a time in history that was against him. Despite any one's political views, the times we are living would not allow John to make a convincing arguement as Reagan and the Bushes were all dressed up to do. America is smart now. We understand, that just because a wealthy, well connected white male acts like John Wayne, it doesn't mean that we should vote for him an convince ourselves that he is just like us. The Rove days may be over, we'll see. Instead, as a result of the Rio Bravo attitude passed on to Bush II and carried out for the last 8 years, people now know that wealthy republicans look out for the wealthy and everyone else just needs to "work harder" and act tougher. Well, we will probably all have to be much tougher real soon with a deep recession on the way. People want a Barack Obama, and the ebb of our time in history is calling for it, the pendulum of political reality has swung so far to the left it may last for the next 16 years like we saw after Hoover. We need a Barack Obama, an Obama that will lower the taxes for 95% of working Americans...Americans just like Joe and who are actually the real Joe the Plumber, the guy who is in that 95%.
