|
What was Sen. McCain thinking when he went on and on about Joe the plumber during the last presidential debate on the 15th of October? The media frenzy is heading the logical way, dying down, that is; Joe himself says that he wants to go back to his ‘pre Obama’ days, and after a few months, people will probably ask “Joe who ?” if you ask them about Joe the plumber. The question that lingers though is regarding the effect, if at all, that Joe the plumber has had on the Republican campaign on the eve of the US presidential elections. Will the Joe’s candid question have any notable effect on the polls? Will the sagging republican campaign gain anything from a small question that raised such a storm?
It’s widely believed all over the world now that the Democrats are going to win this one. With Obama on a publicity rampage, spurred by the media, the Democrats were going great guns from the very beginning of the campaign. The present financial crisis has pretty much sealed the issue for them.
“But it ain’t over”, some of the ardent Republican followers would tell you. Strange as it is, some of these guys actually believe that Joe the plumber (some Democrats are calling him Sam the non-plumber) is some sort of a messiah who is going to bail them out at the last moment. Well, the Republicans have every reason to believe in miracles, going by what happened in the 2000 elections. Will Joe the plumber and his ambitious plumbing fix the leak for the republicans this time?
Okay, enough fooling. Let’s get down to the real issues. What Joe asked Obama made sense to many. Why would you tax someone more just because he is doing well? Is that some sort of a punishment for being successful? Sounds an okay question to ask, and maybe the nation could have a low-intensity debate on that. But then, Obama decided to include a phrase like ‘spreading the wealth’, which most republicans interpreted as ‘snatching from the rich to give to the poor’, and the scene changed dramatically (for the Republicans, that is). With the republicans blaming Obama (Nobama for many Republicans) of being a socialist, McCain might have just got a last moment breather. Whether that will have anything to do with the results for the polls is debatable. However, it must be said that Joe the plumber will be remembered for a long time as part of the history of the US presidential debates. If Sen. McCain thinks him worthy of mentioning 21 times during the last presidential debate, then he must have thought that Joe may make some difference.
Taxing entrepreneurs more at a time of great economic crisis is not going to be accepted by most of those who are on the verge of 250 a year. That’s the group that Joe the plumber claimed to represent (many say he is in no position to claim that). So, the question posed by him may have an additional impact, and presidential polls do have a history of last moment surprises. If Joe the plumber was responsible for a last moment media frenzy favoring the Republicans, he, or what he represents, may still make it happen for John McCain.
|
