Exactly who is Joe the plumber? We know there was a guy named Joe who asked Senator Obama a question at a rally. We know he said Senator Obama's economic plan would hurt him. But really what does this all boil down to? Is Joe the Plumber a representative of the average working class American as Senator McCain would like us to believe, or is he a guy who makes more then a quarter of a millions dollars per year and doesn't want to pay taxes? And what about this Joe Six Pack Palin keeps talking about? Joe this and Joe that. Now comes the next and most important question....Does the GOP even have a clue about who the average Joe really is? This writer says no!
The average Joe is the guy who makes $40,000.00 per year or less and has been forced to accept stagnated wages for more than thirty years. He has witnessed the whittling down of benefits, of retirement savings. He is on the verge of losing his house or he already has lost his house. He is one pay check away from the streets and has at least $20,000.00 worth of credit card debt. He has to juggle between food on the table or gas in the car. He can't afford his prescription medication. He has no job security. He doesn't have $280,000.00 to buy a small business. He can't afford health care insurance for himself or his family. He can't afford to send his child to a private school, but his tax dollars subsidize those who can with vouchers. His sons and daughters are forced to fight the rich man's wars. He has been habitually lied to and screwed over by the GOP for more than two generations and perhaps as far back as McKinley. The GOP loves to talk about the average Joe. The keep trying to plant in our minds that the average Joe is important to them. But when they help the not-so-average Joe avoid taxes and even give them tax incentives and giveaways the average Joe has been paying into his entire life and when they outsource the average Joe's job overseas, when they cut or freeze programs the average Joe needs like unemployment insurance, general assistance, medicaid, medicare, social security disability, food stamps and other safety nets, they give up any pretense they care a damn thing about the average Joe.
The debate last night was a clear and decisive victory for Senator Obama. It will no doubt lead to a victory for him in November and it will happen because the average American, be his name Joe or not, understands without a doubt that the GOP does not represent him. I look forward to this victory. In fact I am savorying every minute of it. My only regret is that my father and mother who had been hard-working Joe's their whole lives are not here to savor this moment with me. From the Great Depression of the 1929 to the oppression and even greater depression of George W. Bush, they have experienced first hand like most of us average Joe's what the GOP really believes when it comes to them. This is an average Joe rebellion and it's magnitude could very well see to it the GOP, who has proven time and time again the the average Joe is nothing more than fodder, will be fodder themselves in election after election and for many years to come.
