Having Joe in the spotlight allows us to bring up very real issues -- issues that are at the heart of Obama's campaign, including:
(Sorry this diary is short, but it wasn't working as a comment. Could be user error. Please don't say mean things about me. I'm a nice person and don't deserve it. :-) )
More below the fold...
Again, having Joe in the spotlight allows us to bring up very real issues -- issues that are at the heart of Obama's campaign, including:
* Blue-collar conservatives, who love to moan and groan about taxes, are going to get tax cuts.
* This particular blue-collar conservative, Joe the plumber, couldn't pay his hospital bill and ended up with a lien on his house. Obviously he didn't have health insurance (at least not good insurance), or he wouldn't have ended up with a $1,000+ hospital bill. Obama will make it easier for him to get good health insurance.
* Guys like Joe, who don't pay their hospital bills, are already being subsidized by the people who can afford health insurance through higher premiums. Joe is mooching off the more affluent, and Obama can help put a stop to Joe's mooching by providing Joe and his son with the health care they need and deserve.
Obama is going to improve life for these guys, and Joe the plumber makes it easy for us to make the point. He got everyone's attention with his standard blue-collar conservative rhetoric, and now we get to show him that he's wrong. Obama is going to make life better for Joe and others like him whether [oops -- was "weather"] they agree with Obama or not.
I'm happy to think about the union plumbers going door to door to talk about why Obama's policies will make Joe's life better, even though Joe isn't going to vote for Obama.