Monday, October 17, 2011

Remember Joe?

Joe the Plumber is running for Congress. Are you shocked? You really shouldn't be. Do you even remember Joe? He became famous during the 2008 presidential election campaign when Obama was walking through a neighborhood in, wasn't it Toledo, Ohio? Joe was standing in his yard, and candidate Obama walked up to him, and shook hands.

Joe took advantage of the opportunity to complain to Obama that raising taxes on the wealthy would only hurt small businesses, such as his plumbing business. Turned out that he didn't even have a plumbing business (details, details).

Obama responded by saying something like "share the wealth, buddy". The republicans made much noise about this, alternately claiming that Obama had been unaware that his comment was caught on recorder, and that Obama had accidently shown himself to be a socialist.

If but for that moment, and the spectacle that the conservative media made of it, would Joe be running for congress now? One doubts it. Somehow, it seems quite natural in our soundbite fifteen minutes of fame culture that good ole Joe would be unable to resist the allure of celebrity.

Or perhaps Joe finally got his plumbing business started, more clearly sees Obama's devastating policies, and simply feels obligated to serve, and fight the liberal menace. The smart money is on the fame theory.

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