Barack Obama has his own 'Joe the Plumber' riff

Credit John McCain and his message-makers with this -- when they decided two weeks ago to make "Joe the Plumber" the personification of their negative critique of Barack Obama's economic policies, they introduced a rhetorical device with staying power.

McCain rallies, as often as not, now are billed as "Joe the Plumber" events, and attendees oblige with signs offering themselves as variations of the working-class stiff from Ohio.

The plumber himself -- Samuel J. Wurzelbacher -- has hit the trail for the Republican ticket. And Sarah Palin was joined this week by another embodiment of blue-collar America, "Tito the Builder."

But here's the surest sign that the schtick has stuck -- Obama, who takes great personal care in crafting the words he speaks, has incorporated it into his stump speeches.

Here's an alliterative sound bite from his remarks to a crowd in Raleigh, N.C., as passed along by The Times' Michael Finnegan:

Whether you are Suzy the Student, or Nancy the Nurse, or Tina the Teacher or Carl the Construction worker –- if my opponent is elected, you will be worse off four years from now than you are today.

Obama also offered a quotable retort to the McCain's suggestions that his policies veer toward socialism. “By the end of the week, he’ll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten,” Obama joked. “I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds was at the ready with a response: “No one cares what Barack Obama does with his toys, but Americans do care that he wants to raise taxes, add a trillion dollars in new spending and redistribute your hard-earned paycheck as he sees fit.”

-- Don Frederick

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Comments

[Republican Folley]

Joe the Plumber is unlicensed and owes in back taxes. Perfect GOP fodder.

[OSweet]

Don't forget Seth the Slacker ... Wanda the Welfare Queen ... Phil the Ph.D in Oppression Studies ... Curt the Corruptocrat ...

[BILL]

OH WELL!

[alex]

McCain Is an exploiting capitalist. He has 7 glamorous mansions and ranches. He left his wife to marry a rich, young, beautiful woman 20 years younger than him. He has 13 cars.......

[Richard P. McDonough]

Obama could just tell the simple truth: Joe is not Joe, is not a licensed plumber, is ant-government, anti-Social Security, quite dim on his mathematics, and the perfect mate to McSame and McSarah who are, as a wag said, one sandwich shy of a picnic.

[Jesse Blanchard]

What about John the Millionaire?

He can't run a campaign how could he run a country?

Obama 08

[Numbers]

“The stark contrast between the whiz-bang Clinton years and the dreary Bush years is familiar because it is so recent. But while it is extreme, it is not atypical. Data for the whole period from 1948 to 2007, during which Republicans occupied the White House for 34 years and Democrats for 26, show average annual growth of real gross national product of 1.64 percent per capita under Republican presidents versus 2.78 percent under Democrats.

“That 1.14-point difference, if maintained for eight years, would yield 9.33 percent more income per person, which is a lot more than almost anyone can expect from a tax cut.

“The two Great Partisan Divides combine to suggest that, if history is a guide, an Obama victory in November would lead to faster economic growth with less inequality, while a McCain victory would lead to slower economic growth with more inequality. Which part of the Obama menu don’t you like? “

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/business/31view.html?ex=1377921600&en=100869b16f8f1a09&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
The quotation is from an article by Alan S. Blinder, a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve.

[SassySanFran]

Like Tucker Bounds said, it does not matter to me if you played with Suzy in the sandbox or doctor with Nancy the nurse. What are you doing with my money? I have worked hard to get where I am today and I do not want a politician to tell me blatantly that he is going to "spread the wealth".

I think if they were going to "spread the wealth" let's start with some of those exorbant paychecks the elected officials get.

[Jared]

Listen.... all Mc Cain and Palin do, is take punches at Obama, because they don't have ANY CLUE about how to lead this country to where it needs to go. Everytime they come up with an idea, it is ONLY because Obama came up with one at first, and they feel like they need to come up with some kind of idea to combat his. Their campaign is TRULY a joke and the best thing they can do to gain anyone's respect back, is to leave the race and ADMIT at least one truth; they aren't ready to lead this country.

[Anietie Ukpe]

The race is simply between dirty politics vs ethical politics. Much has to be said for the Obama camp that in spite of Palin's many troubles (troopergate, paying for her children's travels with state money, influencing contracts to favour certain choice companies, attempting to cover up shady deals done by her) they have resisted the temptation to make all these campaign issues. If the shoe were on the other foot, we know what would have happened. I wish Obama wins if only because of this.

[Bud]

"...he wants to raise taxes, add a trillion dollars in new spending and redistribute your hard-earned paycheck as he sees fit.”

It's not the hard-earned checks so much as the easily-earned ones. Trust funds, stock options, whatever stuff Biff the Golfer deals with.

He has a lot of Bush mistakes to undo. The tax cuts for the filthy rich is only one. There are some "wars" that are out of hand.

[Dr Derrick Morris]

Ladies and Gentlemen, please ignore the simplistic name calling and focus on the real issues this election cycle. In any college freshman Economics text book you will read about transfer payments. It is government give money to other. This money comes from individuals or businesses that have paid taxes. So, whatever name you call it does not change its capitalistic nature. This does not make you Socialist. In fact many European Allies have Socialist Governments. The stigma was if you are a puppet of Russia or the Soviet Union. Obama is a down to earth American who wants to change the way things are done to improve the economic conditions of America today and tomorrow.

[Rich]

Big Brother is coming! It's 2008 and we're going back to 1984

[Big Boss]

I wonder how many of McCain followers are making 250.00 per year. If they are making under 250.00 per year they should vote for Obama and get a tax break. I wonder how many will vote for McCain knowing that they will not get a tax break if Obama lose ? As to the race question I would not care what color a person skin was if he was pulling me out of a hole to save my life get real people this is 2008. Everybody is the same.

[Chris]

After having my taxes wasted on an unnecessary war (that should be funded by Iraqi oil money), my extra money spent on gasoline to provide oil companies with record profits (money siphoned from small businesses everywhere), and having unqualified idiots appointed to positions simply because they were "good members" who unquestioningly supported "The Party" (sounds rather Hitlerish), I'm ready for a change. When the GOP started supporting universal healthcare while spending money like it grows on trees, they lost my confidence and respect.

[kouji]

i'm not a big fan of this alliterative device. it just makes it that much more difficult for me, to take a statement which uses it, seriously, whichever candidate uses it.

furthermore, i'm not a big fan of joe expressing his policy positions on obama and israel, when he himself later admits that his knowledge on foreign policy isn't quite enough.

these are serious times, with many complicated issues hitting your country all at once. americans, i feel, deserve well thought out and articulated policy responses, so they can make decisions based on what will matter to them and their families down the road.

[beevee]

McCain and Palin and their goons have gone so negative in this campaign they have nothing to offer to the american public but to constantly criticize Obama. That is not what Americans want to hear from an old man who aspires to become president of this nation. I hope voters can see through his desperation and are sick of his negative campaign. I am for one so sick of McCain and Palin negative attack on Obama I will never want to be a republican again.

[oaklynne]

Someone should put duct tape over Tucker Bound's mouth - he is such an obnoxious spokesperson and an irritating reminder of why I am voting for Obama.

[don]

it is sad to see that at this stage in the elections, the campaigns are trying to exaggerate and distort another's words to misinform and misguide American people. I just hope that there are enough literate people in country who will rather look at the entire discussions (with Joe, Ayers or any other) prior to making up their minds to exercise theo democratic rights. Only question I wonder about is if voters do reject such ugliness in campaigns for the highest office (in the world?), will that make our politicians learn from this??!

[Raul]

no body of any high position has the courage to say that the majority of the taxes will go to Africnn Blacks, is this the begining of Repartion .

[sks1960]

This election has become so stupid ... we are hearing about the stupid stunts and jokes more than we are about the real issues. Neither of these two idiots (McCain or Obama) has addressed illegal immigration even once. Our nation is being slowly invaded and our economy, our jobs, and our health care is being affected by this problem. They are putting a drain our our social programs, they are forcing our health care cost to rise, and they are keeping our wage base low when they work for less than the American workers will accept.

[Ron]

"He's gonna take my money!!" I'm afraid!!! He's socialist!!!

News flash: You pay taxes which get distributed to others like policemen and bridge builders so you can have protection and roads (and a military).

You think McCain is going to not charge you? Now that his party has spent all the previous tax dollars? For sure he's not going to charge John the Millionaire cause he's got accountants.

All you guys worried about your hard earned checks obviously aren't so swift on math. First, the only place you make 250k is in your dreams. Then you'd find you'd have to pay an extra what 6% on ONLY the amount over 250k. Poor babies.

You want your aircraft carriers? You want your drone aircraft? You want armor for the troops?

You think it's going to come from what, the sky? Guess what, it's 'spreading the wealth', your wealth (what little of it you have). Except it's going to Haliburton and Cheney instead of roads or schools or healthcare.

I for one am less afraid of paying another few grand on taxes than I am about this country going down the tubes because we can't compete globally, our healthcare is one of the worst in the free world and the most expensive, our bridges are falling into rivers and our economy is doing the same.

Sick of all the whiners who want it all but don't want to sacrifice anything to get it.

[GaryB]

> Big Brother is coming! It's 2008 and we're going back to 1984

Wake up ... it's big brother who's leaving. Remember the spy on citizen and soldier's guy? The guy who removed Habeas corpus? The dufus who probably couldn't explain to you any part of the constitution or federalist papers. The Bush-Cheney-McCheney guy?

Obama is a scholar of the constitution and federalist papers. We're in great shape and I'm buying because democrats are alwasy good for the market, and since Nixon, they spend less and grow government less. Which we liberals like. Small, non-intrusive gov, fiscal prudence. Not what we say, what we do.

[serious voter]

Socialism has never worked in communist countries, Mr Obama, you are going to waste your time!

[serious voter]

If Obama and Biden get elected in November, they will withdraw troops and cut off funding for Iraq and Afghanistan. Biden and his friends did that to South Vietnam in 1975. The results: South Vietnam was collapsed in a short time and many South Vietnamese were killed and put in prisons by North Vietnam. Biden will do the same thing to Iraq, this time, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Israel and some Arab countries will become vulnerable.