There are many things I do not understand. One is particularly difficult to comprehend.
Why all the fuss over this guy “Joe the Plumber?”
This gentleman merely asked Barack Obama about paying taxes when he was campaigning through Joe’s neighborhood. Can you even calculate the odds of a presidential candidate strolling down your street in a country of 300 million inhabitants? What an opportunity regardless of party affiliation!
As I understand it, Joe’s question was neither particularly boorish nor flippant. He asked if he would pay more taxes if he purchased the plumbing concern for which he worked.
You would have thought that Joe was calling Obama the Anti-Christ. How dare he inquire about the candidate’s domestic policies?
This does make one wonder if there is some small degree of validity to critics’ claims that Obama should never be questioned or second-guessed about anything.
Of course, this does not necessarily reflect on Obama personally, but it certainly does on his supporters and the media which have dug so deeply in Joe’s backyard that echoes of Chinese music are emanating from his lawn.
What if Joe were a convicted felon? Would that alter the nature and relevance of the question? Heck, Barack Obama has already proclaimed that those making more than $250,000 will pay more in taxes. Am I to conclude that once Barack speaks no one may question, ask for clarification, or seek reinforcement?
Once the media sprang into action because of Joe’s unpardonable sin of pestering the ‘anointed one,’ we have discovered that he is not a licensed plumber, owes a hospital money (well, that has been settled according to a New York Times article), and has a tax lien filed against him by the State of Ohio. Earlier reports of Joe’s domestic abuse have ceased, suggesting they were as fallacious as initial Internet rumors that Sarah Palin’s baby was really her daughter’s.
Would we have been entertained by the same rush and hub-bub had “Suzie the Nurse” queried John McCain about paying more under his health care plan? How quickly would we have heard about her financial and marital statuses? Perhaps we would even know her dress size so that suitors could surprise her with new, stylish outfits like Sarah Palin's.
And worse, worse by half, Joe does not even make enough money to pay more taxes. How dare he ask about something that does not affect him! He should have known not to bother Barack with such nonsense. Obama will soon be Leader of the Free World and he does not have time to trifle with some average slug-of-a-guy who will probably gain from Obama’s tax policy anyway. Some people – Joe, are you listening? -- are so ungrateful.
Yes, there are some things I do not understand. Why would Joe the plumber be so out of line to question a man who, for the next four years, will affect the lives of people residing in the third most populous country on Earth?
Some people have no manners. Poor Joe. What are we to do with people like him?
Thank goodness that we have a stand-up media and solid folks like Barack Obama’s supporters to counter the aimless, mindless, and witless riff-raft taking up valuable space in the heartland of this country.
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Fred W. Apelquist, III, M.Ed.
Approximately 540 words.
© October 24, 2008
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