This past week’s political temperature has left me feeling a bit feverish. The final Presidential debate was held on Wednesday evening. The debate finally covered some topics that helped to clarify the Presidential candidate’s political positions. This was good. It is too bad that it took 3 debates for us to get to the nitty gritty. In this election… having a clear understanding of those positions is very important.
During the debate, John McCain brought up a reference to a question that was asked of Barack Obama earlier in the week, in Holland-Ohio, while campaigning. Sen. McCain nicknamed the questioner “Joe the plumber”. Well, needless to say…Joe the plumber became a focal point of this back and forth between Obama-McCain. “Joe” became an instant celebrity…much to his surprise! His question to Sen. Obama was to the heart of taxation…a topic of contention in this election.
Well, Joe the plumber’s real name is Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher. He asked Sen. Obama, when he showed up in his neighborhood stumping for the campaign; “Your new tax plan is going to cost me more money, isn’t it”? He told him he wanted to buy the business that he worked for; in the future and would hope to make 250,000 dollars or more in business.
To make a long story short….Joe the plumber has taken on the personna of every-man. This ignited a firestorm of interest in Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, which amazed him and triggered some natural curiosity about him. However, since that time…he has become the focus of some real background, investigative work.
Whether this is from the media…or both campaigns…who knows. The problem is…that Mr. Wurzelbacher has been put through a ringer. He is not a public person…nor is he a candidate. Is it fair for him to be put under a microscope? Somehow the information has come to light that he is not a licensed plumber; even though he works for one. He is about to receive chastisement for working without a license from the city of Toledo. There could be repercussions for his employer i would think. Information about his income was reported on. As well as personal information such as a lien because of owing back taxes. All of this attention has turned public focus on a private citizen.
Just by asking a candidate a question in this election, “Joe the plumber” has become an unwitting political pawn. This reminds me a bit of the old political tactics called McCarthyism; where thousands of Americans were very aggressively investigated and put under suspicion…many loosing their jobs, some careers were negatively impacted and some were even imprisioned after the investigations. This should be considered unacceptable!
Is this the kind of America that we want to live in? Why can’t political campaigns run on issues and political stances alone and skip all of the negativity? Why can’t they spend their advertising dollars on more important things and do good with that money. They just might find the American voters more receptive to those tactics and avenues than they are to all of this destructive negativity!!! What’s your opinion on this subject?
Write where you are 