Fleeting Glory for Debate Hero "Joe the Plumber"

The day after his third and final debate against Barack Obama, John McCain gave his opinion regarding the head to head. “I thought I was pretty good yesterday night” he said on Thursday October 16th during a rally in Pennsylvania. “But let’s be honest: the real winner here was Joe the Plumber.” Immediately his campaign team released a new internet commercial hailing the hero of the day: Joe Wurzelbacher, a plumber of 34 from Holland, Ohio.

With 19 days until the elections, the republicans were patting themselves on the back for having found a new mascot of middle America with which to oppose Obama. Joe the plumber is built like a football player and lives in a working class neighborhood with his son. When the democratic candidate went door to door in his neighborhood on October 12th , he asked a question. “I’m getting ready to buy a company which makes between 250,000 and 280,000 dollars a year” he said.”With your proposals, I’ll be paying more taxes, is that right?”

A conversation took place on the fiscal measures advocated by Mr Obama, during which the senator for Illinois uttered a seemingly insignificant phrase, given these times of recapitalization of banks, but which sounded like a Marxist attack to republican ears. “I think that when we share wealth, it’s good for everybody”. Share? The republicans widely broadcasted extracts of the dialogue and, during the debate on Wednesday, John McCain seized hold of the Ohio plumber’s case to show to what extent the democrats’ plans threatened the “American dream”. Barack Obama replied and “Joe the plumber’s” name was mentioned 23 times in 90 minutes.

Unpaid and overdue taxes

Immediately the telephone started ringing at Joe Wurzelbacher’s and by the morning he was appearing live on news bulletins. He declined to say whether he would vote for John McCain but his answers left little doubt “it’s an incredibly socialist vision,” he said, referring to the fact that high earners would pay 3% more under Barack Obama’s plan. “Honestly, why should people be penalised for succeeding?”. By this time the press satellite trucks had arrived at the plumber’s house. Throughout the nation, individuals going by the name “Joe” were starting to feel uneasy, particularly since Sarah Palin had already secured advertising for the “Joe six packs” of middle America. The press started questioning local officials. The local branch of the plumbers’ union revealed that Joe had no license to practice. The deputy registrar of the county court announced that he had outstanding taxes of 1,182 dollars and an unpaid hospital bill of 1,261 dollars.

It was eventually discovered that Joe was in fact Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher and that his taxes would actually be reduced under Barack Obama…as for John McCain, he ended up making a joke of it. Appearing by Obama’s side at the charity gala organized by the catholic community of New York, the republican senator announced that he had fired his entire staff and decided to replace them with Joe the Plumber.