Taxes and Plumbers

So the biggest "October suprise" so far in the election is that of the emergence of "Joe the Plumber". An interesting fellow from Ohio who has managed to get Barack Obama to say some damaging sound bites (namely "spread the wealth around") in ways that highly paid TV anchors have tried and failed.

There is an extended interview with this guy here:
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.1465/pub_detail.asp

(Interestingly this was conducted and posted before the debate when Joe (not his real name) was vaulted to stardom.)

I love talking to guys like this. John, the guy that came to fix our refrigerator was very much like this. They didn't go to college, they are open about their total lack of knowledge in many areas, they seem sort of crass or rough, yet in many ways they are living an American ideal! They enjoy a freedom that many white collar folks never do. They are the masters of their fates, knowing that they live or die by their referrals, and their ability to outwork the other guy. They know that they make a fraction per hour of what CEOs or other elites do, but they don't see themselves as victims. That's something that our political discourse has lost. Most talk about "working americans" from politicians conjures up images of sad sacks, totally dependent on evil managers and big bad governement to give them every good thing in life.

I'm glad Joe the Plumber vaulted onto the stage. I love that this guy feels confident enough to stride up to Obama, Harvard Grad, US Senator, and President apparent and confronts him so directly about what he sees as obvious problems with the plan. That's healthy democracy.