During the third and final presidential debate of the year, it seemed much of the conversation revolved around 'Joe the plumber'.
But...who actually is Joe?
His full name is Joe Wurzelbacher from Ohio. He was picked from the crowd at one of the rallies. Since then, McCain has been refering to Joe as the "average American citizen". This is a political strategy that McCain uses to prove that they too understand average American problems by referring to a specific individual. It seemed like only a McCain thing, however, Sen. Obama started to mention Joe the Plumber, as well. In fact, in yesterday's debate alone, Joe the Plumber was mentioned more than 20 times! They even used his name more than "change" or "reform" combined.
Now, Joe has become some sort of celebrity in the campagin. He has paparazzi following him and camping out at his house. He says that he feels like "Britney Spears with a headache", everyone wants to know about what he has to say. Joe, who makes less than 250,000 a year, is planning to buy a plumbing comany and he is worried about tax rates and the economy. If Joe bought the company, it would be making more than 250,000 a year. Obama says that under his plan, tax rates would stay the same, but if Joe earned higher than 250,000 a year a possible 39 percent tax could be proposed. Joe doesn't mind Obama's plan right now because he's earning less than the 250,000.
Joe doesn't want to release to the press who he is going to vote for, but hopefully he will tell the public after the election who his decided candidate was because, of course, EVERYONE cares what Joe the plumber thinks.
P.S. if anyone is interested here is the actualy encounter between Obama and Joe.
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3 comments:
It is important to note whether or not Joe's $250K is before deductions or after deductions. It is very possible that he could be making well over $250K per year but could write-off enough of it to make under the Obama plan threshold.
I think Obama expertly defended his tax plan in this video. I wish he had used some of those points in the debate. I especially liked the one he used about the tax cuts helping a working "Joe" (excuse me) to get to the point where he could own a business.
I just thought it would be funny to point out that Joe the Plumber is not actually a licensed plumber and hasn't paid his back taxes :P... I bet McCain and Obama did not know that when they kept talking about him.
It's kind of funny that "Joe" has become such a famous figure on the political scene. I also feel bad for him because reporters are waiting outside his house all the time and people are putting his whole life story up on the internet for all to see. I really hope that people don't vote based on how he votes.
P.S. I think i read somewhere that his real name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, not Joe.
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