As we’ve discussed in the last post, John McCain used one term frequently in this campaign’s last presidential debate: Joe the Plumber.
But who is Joe really? The media spotlight first hit him on Sunday when Barack Obama went to Holland, Ohio to join his supporters in knocking on doors and talking to locals about his politics. Most people seemed to be awed by the presence of the presidential candidate, but one man remained critical. “Do you believe in the American Dream?” he asked Obama and went on to argue, that under an Obama presidency he would have to pay more taxes if he bought the company he now worked for.
The man calls himself Joe Wurzelbacher and works as a plumber. He didn’t seem to be convinced of Mr. Obama’s argument, that decreasing taxes for people making less than 250.000$ a year would have benefited Mr. Wurzelbacher earlier on and would have made him able to buy his company much sooner. Instead, the man insisted, that he did not understand why he would have to pay more taxes which Mr. Obama described as “spreading the wealth around”.
This critical attitude must have appealed to John McCain who ended up referring to “Joe the plumber” (sounds like Bob the Builder, doesn’t it?) – whose full name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher – 24 times in the last debate. He was often used as an example for the everyday “Joe Sixpack”, Sarah Palin has often spoken about the last days (notice the name difference?) and McCain even addressed him directly, promising: “I’ll keep your taxes low.”
But now the media spotlight shines quite brightly at Mr. Wurzelbacher and Mr. McCain’s good example of everyday Americans seems to have not quite a clean vest as hoped. For one thing, he is not really a licenced plumber. The United Association of Plumber told the New York Times that he has never been a member of their union. Moreover, he owes the state of Ohio over 1000$ in income taxes.
All in all Mr. Wurzelbacher is not so happy that now there are journalists camping outside his house and that there’s Katie Couric trying to reach him by phone. In retrospect he regrets that Mr. McCain mentioned him so often during the debate: “I wished that they had talked more about issues that are important to Americans.” (AP)
What do you say: bet Mr. McCain regrets it, too?
Tags: debate, joe the plumber
October 18, 2008 at 2:44 pm |
Certainly, he regrets! I think the reason that it did not become obvious in the debate or other speeches and interviews is that for McCain IT IS GETTING SERIOUS. And after trying to become president for 10 years or so he must be frustrated with the latest developments. This seems to make him, Cindy and the team delusional; they try to stretch the truth about 180° to their side. McCain/Palin say that people like Joe are the backbone of America, the most important part of the American economy and that is why they want to give him a voice. But how many plumbers do you know that owe more than a quarter of a million a year?
I can just wonder what the McCain team thought when they brought this issue up without even having Joe the plumber checked. Did they not learn from checking out Palin’s past too late. How professional are these political strategists?
Let’s look at it from our European bright side. Joe the sort of plumber gives a voice to Americans. So now Joe and John do not win anything, but most Americans at least have the chance to.
October 19, 2008 at 4:52 pm |
of course mc cain regrets bringing up this example!!!
my question to the whole joe the plumber thing is: whyyyy please tell me why!!! did he (mc cain) went on and on about joe the plumber in the debate? is he really that stupid that he didn’t notice his loss the first time he mentioned Joe in the debate?
and, with annalena i agree on the remark if they didnt learn from Palin at all?
is Mc Cain still trustworthy?? thats my big question. after all the discoveries and public announements and confessions….
but , really, although i am still a obama fan, it hurts to see john mc cain trying so hard and loosing so badly….aaah…
October 22, 2008 at 8:45 pm |
My guess is that McCain simply overestimated the factor of personalisation. And of course, he did not only overestimate but also overstrain it.
When he first came up with Joe, I thought “good boy, this is an example that the viewers out there are able to understand…”. At that point, it was all about breaking this complex issue of taxes down to a single person’s destiny. Which CAN be the most intelligent way to get your message over – IF you know where to stop and IF you are not sitting opposite to Obama who does not have a problem in turning this example around to emphasize his support for small businesses…
Actually, I would love to know how much of Joe was planned beforehand. Imagine McCain’s spin doctors watching him using the guy over and over again and knowing that they just can’t change it. But, based on my personal experience in last session’s debate, I could even be appreciative of McCain. He started with Joe, felt to hit the jackpot – and lost the distance to see that it turned ridiculous and even untrustworthy. If it had been his first debate, I’d say: Don’t worry, you’ll get over it. But realising the (optional) importance of these 90 minutes… sorry John, you could have handled that better.
October 22, 2008 at 9:48 pm |
Exactly, I agree, it was a smart move…at the beginning!
Mentioning him over and over again not only was not successful but made him look a little bit ridiculous. I had the impression, and I think everybody thought the same, that Mc Cain at that moment thought at his “strategy” was very successful and that he was putting Obama in a difficult position, he was really believing that with Joe’s help he was winning the debate but no! The only thing that happened was that after a while he was very tiring…mentioning Joe the plumper all the time was as if he had not had anything else to use in order to “attack” and surprise his opponent.