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It was October in Ohio and the candidate was working the rope line for the TV cameras. He came to a gruff, large man who asked:
"I'm getting ready to buy a company that makes 250 to 280 thousand dollars a year. Your new tax plan's going to tax me more, isn't it?"
The candidate, being off teleprompter, went briefly off-message and the mask dropped, just for a moment:
"My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s gonna be good for everybody.... Right now everybody’s so pinched that business is bad for everybody and I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody."
When asked why he asked his question of candidate Obama in October of 2008, Joe the Plumber has no doubts: "God made me ask that question of Obama. He made me do it to start a conversation."
It's a conversation that Joe (the Plumber) Wurzelbacher continues to this day; one that just got broader and deeper with the advent of his new talk show, Whaddya Ya Know, Joe? on Right Network.
There's a case to be made for divine intervention when it comes to Wurzelbacher. On the one hand, everything in his background up to the moment made him an unlikely everyman. On the other hand, everything in his background made him the perfect everyman. He had the heft and the look of a man who knew how to do (and had done) many jobs of real work. As such, he stood in marked contrast to the Democratic candidate whose aspect communicated the essence of the elite and the effete. Joe's ernest and honest question elicited what was essentially a snarky and entitled response. The question and the answer struck a chord in American life at that moment as millions identified with Joe the Plumber. And they watched the man who would be president toss away their dreams and ambitions with a blithe promise to "spread the wealth around;" something that, as president, Obama has done and continues to do to this day.
The exchange on the rope line between Obama the candidate and Joe the Plumber took all of two minutes and nine seconds. Yet it was a moment that shook the campaigns and led to Joe's name being brought up in the subsequent presidential debate more than any other. It also shook up Joe Wurzelbacher's life and changed it forever.
Obama's answer was the answer. It made the news and reflected the internal thoughts and ambitions of the candidate. It was one of those moments when a glimmer of truth peeked through with the phrase "spread the wealth around." Because it was "the truth" it could not be allowed to go unburied. The impulse of the media and the Democrat machine was, naturally, to try and bury the man who asked the question. It was a classic "shoot the messenger" gambit.
In the days that followed the presidential debate Joe the Plumber was much in demand on the TV news circuit. And in the days that followed it turned out that a lot of people in the Democrat machine were gunning for him. The effort to tar him even extend to state employees of Ohio performing illegal searches for personal information on him in the state databases. The offenders were fired but recently and quietly rehired.
A lesser man might have been cowed when he saw the Democrat controlled media and state government lining up against him. A lesser man might have sought to go quietly back into obscurity. But Joe the Plumber was made of sterner stuff. The years since he asked his question have seen him go from strength to strength.
He now appears as a motivational speaker and author and is active in promoting traditional American values. As he says, "I need to make sure my 15 year old is led by example not the media."
Just last weekend he spoke at the rally in Wisconsin in support of Governor Walker:
Joe's also active in Alaskas Healing Hearts, an organization which enables wilderness trips and hunts for wounded veterans. His next book will be entitled, "Fear." But it's not about being afraid, but being unafraid; to stand up, to speak the truth, to stand for America. To stand for America just like.... well, any ordinary Joe.
You can watch him stand here on RightNetwork, and you can ask him questions via joe@rightnetwork.com
