What Joe the Plumber Really Means
Joe the Plumber is the latest of many colorful, mythic characters to grace the nation's presidential stage -- an individual who epitomizes how our nation conducts its politics. Our democracy is kabuki theater, replete with symbolic archetypal Americans, some used as scapegoats (Reagan's "welfare queens") others used for fearmongering (Harry & Louise) and still others cited as mythic idols (Joe the Plumber).
In the War Room of presidential elections, these figures are typically chewed up and ultimately spit out by both parties, the media and interest groups. The treatment is so hackneyed that we all knew what to expect the moment John McCain first mentioned "Joe the Plumber": We knew our email boxes would be stuffed full of press releases from advocacy groups about who Joe Wurzelbacher is and isn't, attacks from opp research outfits about whether Joe really is a plumber, pays his taxes and is an upstanding citizen; SNL-ish attempts to create Plumber Wars by pitting Joe the Plumber for McCain against Al the Plumber for Obama; and canned cable interviews with Joe to let him use his 15 minutes of fame to explain himself.
It's all so cliche that I simply deleted all the email and shut off the TV today, knowing what they all said without needing to read it -- knowing that almost all of the noise focuses on Joe Wurzelbacher the individual, rather than the significance of Joe the Plumber the archetype -- and how that archetype's cameo in presidential politics verifies both a tectonic cultural shift happening in America, as well as disturbing dissonance between politics and policy.
In my newest article for In These Times magazine, I examine how the deeper narratives being amplified in the 2008 campaign may be as important to working-class voters (represented by the image of by Joe the Plumber) as the candidates' specific issue positions.
Building off Aziz Rana's great n+1 magazine article, I look at how the political Establishment's framing of career "success" can psychologically attract and alienate voters in unpredictable ways -- and how those definitions often denigrate Joe the Plumber even as that Establishment purports to court him with "issues."
The tectonic shift is Joe's appearance at the highest echelons of politics, a presidential debate. The mere fact that we are talking about Joe -- that we are talking about class-based economic concerns - tells us we have, indeed, matured past the greed-is-good paeans of the 1980s and the "new economy" platitudes of the 1990s -- both themes that effectively said non-professionals victimized by corporate-written policies are the necessary victims of capitalism's "creative destruction." That politicians feel the need to show their rhetorical regard for Joe the Plumber may be evidence we are finally climbing out of the elitists' rabbit hole.
But the pressing question after the election will be whether the working-class is, as I write in the In These Times piece, merely "a sepia-toned backdrop in 30-second TV ads" or a genuine focus of national policy? Will we still have policies and rhetoric that assumes the inevitability of mythic professional dreams and Tom Friedman's white-collar nirvanas? Or will we graduate to a politics that acknowledges the value of non-professional dreams, and the obstacles to those dreams that have been legislated in our trade, tax and globalization policies?
This is a scarier question, because despite the fleeting campaign promises about hot-button issues like NAFTA and the Colombia trade deal, it's hard to tell what this election and the current financial crisis is actually forging in terms of an overarching mandate.
The consensus-ism of Obama and the change pledges of McCain paper over the fact that both them -- and both parties -- still genuflect to Big Money. We are, for example, watching the candidates promising to put Joe the Plumber first, just weeks after they both voted for a bailout bill handing almost 5 percent of our economy to Wall Street speculators. That kind of cynicism bleeds down into the national legislature as well. As congressional candidates campaign as rhetorical populists (stay tuned for my newspaper column on this tomorrow), here's Roll Call today:
"When Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) travels to Wall Street today to discuss overhauling financial regulations with industry titans, it will be something of a homecoming. She once held a seat on the New York Stock Exchange; in fact, Tauscher cut her teeth there early in her career as an investment banker. This time, she is making the rounds both as an emissary of House Democratic leadership and as chairwoman of the New Democrat Coalition, a centrist organization hoping a Democratic sweep in November will make it a pivotal group next year and beyond...If Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) wins the White House, [New Democrats] say their votes will serve as a business-friendly check on the more liberal impulses of a party suddenly in control of all levers of power." (emphasis added)
During this recession, it is comforting to tell ourselves that if we elect a certain president, our troubles will be over; that if we get the right politicians into office, we will have forced our government to prioritize the working class over the donor class -- Joe Wurzelbacher the Plumber instead of Bob Rubin the Speculator. And hell, who doesn't want to be comforted at a time when our 401k(s) are being devoured by the market monster that donor class built? Like drug addicts seeing only their next fix and not their disease, we perpetually convince ourselves that the imminent election is our ultimate palliative.
But it's not -- if we don't acknowledge the deeper problems, inconsistencies and hypocrisies. If we perpetuate denial -- if we, for instance, obsess over the personal foibles or heroics of the individual Joe Wurzelbacher and not the far more important class meaning of the archetype Joe the Plumber -- then we are helping guarantee that the more things "change" the more they stay the same.
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Listen, I was a single parent and worked two jobs while raising children, and still work two jobs. I put myself through school, and I could have really used a break. I didn't ask for anything for free. But, nothing, and I mean NOTHING trickled down my way. INow that my children are gone, and I thought all is well, and hard work pays off, my 401 K retirement plan is pretty much sucking.
So, I may not be "Joe the Plumber", it doesn't take a rocket scientist too see the RNC set up Senator Obama for. He handled himself with diginity, and looked very Presidential. Exactly what I want to see during a time of cirsis.
And you can totally forget the comment about how women look up to Sarah Palin, What? Because she has breasts? NO FRIGGIN WAY!! Don't compare Hilary Clinton (whom I happen to think is someone to look up to). to Sarah Palin.... No the same at all.
McSame, maybe when you lose this election, (if it's not stolen again). Joe the Plumber can buy you a cup of coffee with all the money he's saved from NOT BEING TAXED !!!
What cheating and lying worked for in the last 2 elections, ain't goona work this time ... wink
I was waiting for Obama to mention that Joe the Plumber's kids attend charter schools.
We don't know that for a fact, but we know charters work and there ought to be more of them, as Obama and McCain agreed. But for all their bi-partisan popularity, charters are a little mysterious to voters (only 38% know they’re public schools).
A quick primer...T
Charters offer a basic bargain: freedom to innovate in exchange for tough accountability. In the charter model, the folks nearest the kids make the key decisions. Charters are nimble; they modify instruction or redirect resources according to students’ needs – not a cookie-cutter, district-wide program or contract.
Charter students start academically behind their peers in district-run schools, and then gain at a greater clip. One dramatic example comes from New York City, where the inner-city charters are outpacing not only other schools there, but suburban-heavy statewide averages as well.
So we in the movement are proud that charters are closing the achievement gap between affluent kids and their less well-off counterparts. If education is the civil rights issue of the 21st century, as McCain said, then charter schools are helping to lead the march toward equality.
Sorry, can't agree on charters. Taking public dollars from struggling schools is not the answer. As a teacher, we get kids from charters all the time and the parents complain about the lack of rigor (at least at the charters around here). I'm fortunate to work at one of the top districts in Michigan and, in my experience, I believe that if their is a firm partnership between qualified/motivated teachers, parents and kids, public schools work.
David, I wholeheartedly agree with you. The media feeding frenzy on poor Joe is ridiculous! Using common sense, my take is laid out in my blog, which I write for friends, family & old clients (retired biz attorney). Enjoy...
Blog: http://mom
MomsHugs (aka Eve - GA)
I live in Ohio, I know a guy named Joe. He is a plumber. His father (an immigrant) started a tiny plumbing company and he took over his dad's small business and made it grow into a big business. He might fall into McCain's tax bracket now, but he's doing pretty well. The Joe the Plumber in Ohio I know (not this Wurlzelbacher dude) would probably prefer McCain's tax cuts, but this other Joe Wurzelbacher dude has nothing to vote for McCain for since he doesn't make nearly that much.
Also, the Joe the Plumber from Ohio that I know wouldn't have time for this media/political slant crap because he works his a** off all day and then takes care of 3 kids while his wife takes her turn at 2nd shift.
Some people don't vote because of what they can get out of it, but for what they think is best for their country overall. If your friend the plumber works this hard and eventually gets ahead he would probably rather keep and reinvest or spend his own money than have it taken by the government to give to whoever they think should have it. Quite possibly someone who doesn't/hasn't put in all the hard work your Joe the Plumber has.
Doesn't anybody care that "Joe, The Plumber" is a relative of Charles Keating, McCain's bosom buddy in fraud? Doesn't anybody care that it was a set up to try and trap Obama? What's wrong with you people?
Where are you getting this information and what is the point? What trap? Asking a question is now considered a trap?? Obama answered truthfully, if you don't like the answer don't oppress the asker.
Amazing...
As for age, most welfare recipients are children.
“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” Warren Buffet (2006)
I am not a socialist ( yet ;-) ) but I know that the real threat of socialism is the only thing that will bring back some balance to our system. If liberals are running scared as liberals they need someone on their left to give them some backbone and make them look reasonable. The new "conservatives" have moved the center gravity of our political spectrum so far to the "right" that no real solution is possible in such constricted environment. We are turning in circles and spinning our wheels.
See Bruce Tenenbaum's Profile
Joe the Plumber? He represents the Republicans' need for obfuscation.
He doesn't represent the working class. He represents only himself and a fringe group of Americans that are uncomfortable with ideas like Social Security and the acknowledgment that someone, somewhere will need to pay taxes.
He was dredged up by the McCain campaign, like Bill Ayers before him and the imaginary "Joe Six Pack" before that, to cover up the fact that McCain's tax policy is the same as Bush's. It is that tax policy that threatens the non professional dreams you speak of. In this way, the McCain campaign is more cynical than ever and Joe has turned into a willing stooge whose message blunts his own chances for economic independence.
Obama has it right. Trickle down, of which I've recently written http://www
Exactly! Same old discredited economic policies..
Speaking for myself, I've definitely felt something "trickling" on me for the last eight years, but I'll tell you what...it doesn't smell a BIT like money.
Why was my reply to this taken down? Too much truth? Joe wasn't trying to represent the working class, he was representing the voices against socialism. Did you not like the facts? The fact that my husband and I have worked two jobs, over 80 hour weeks, gone full time to school, made many many sacrifices to get to where we are. If someone else isn't willing to make those sacrifices why do I owe them my hard work? I don't make 250,000 yet, but if and when I do I owe it to my own and my husbands hard work, not to the government or to the people waiting for someone else to give them something. Isn't it a form of slavery for someone to be forced by the law to work and give the product of their work to someone else? If someone is forced to work hard and then give the benefit of that work to someone else or be jailed, that's socialism, that's a form of slavery, that's what Joe was objecting too.
Things have to get so bad that even DLC (aka Vichy) Democrats admit the "free market" is baloney. I don't think we're there yet. I'm not even sure Obama's heart is in fighting for the extraordinary changes in policy that are needed. We must reverse the Reagan/Bush/DLC rot that has obliterated necessary government controls on business and trade.
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