Tale of Two Joes

Just now in the U. S. Presidential election, everyone was wondering if the McCain campaign would dissolve into endless repetitions of Obama's answer to a question from a guy known as "Joe the Plumber."

Joe asked Obama face-to-face if Obama would raise his taxes should Joe be fortunate enough to buy the plumbing business that he now works for. Obama forgot his "those who are blessed by America should be willing to pay their fair share" rhetoric and, instead, said that it is a good thing to spread the wealth around.

It was a telling moment. But if the moment had lasted another week, I would have had to stop watching the news and do something productive.

It was mildly interesting to see the news media deconstruct "average Joe" by reporting that he is plumbing without a license and has not paid all his taxes.

O. K., so Joe is a libertarian's hero. History perfectly cast him for his role.

But even that was getting stale when the other Joe--Joe Biden--fragged Obama. Biden told a group of their supporters that U. S. enemies would provoke a crisis to test his untried running mate.

It is hard to keep a running tally of Biden's questions about the Obama campaign's validity.

During the primary, Biden said that Obama had no experience and that the office of the presidency did not lend itself to on the job training.

Biden once said McCain had the experience to be president.

Biden even said that Hillary would have probably been a better vice presidential pick than Biden.

Now he confirms what every serious person knows--that Obama is a lightweight who will attract enemy fire. Obama may fight, like Kennedy did (he was deemed a lightweight by the Soviet Union). Or Obama may only offer testy rhetoric, like Carter did after the Soviet invasion of Afganistan. But Obama will be tested in ways that crotchety old McCain would not have been. (My take on McCain, as a person, is that he is the old guy who yells, "You kids get off my lawn!")

I reiterate that I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. I have serious problems with McCain's active pragmatism that runs roughshod over individual freedom. But Biden said what I have been saying for months.

I can keep watching the news.