The Newest Microceleb: Joe the Plumber

Last nights debate was kind of weird, right? In addition to usual problems of quibbling over statistics, there was a bizarre section where McCain and Obama started courting "Joe the Plumber". I thought this was a symbolic gesture, but today's headlines show that there is a real guy named Joe they were actually addressing.

Joe is apparently a plumber who hopes to buy his own plumbing company, and makes just over $250,000 a year. This number is important because Obama wants to raise taxes from 36% to 39% for anyone who makes over a quarter of a million annually. Joe's in this demographic, and he's not happy about it. He confronted Obama on a clip that showed up on youtube (above).

There's speculation about who Joe really is; he doesn't have a plumbing or contracting license, and he owes tax money. Daily Kos suspects that he's a relative of Charles Keating, and a GOP plant. He's also getting negative attention for making some latently racist comments about Obama tap-dancing "almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr."

On the other hand, many Americans are relating to Joe, who preaches that people should learn about the issues for themselves and ask tough questions. He's even inspired a line of "Joe for President" t-shirts.

Regardless, Joe has come to represent the fundamental difference between the tax policies of Mccain and Obama, and furthermore two interpretations of the American dream.