Just Wonderings

For 8 weeks the McCain camp has been hurling itself from one wedge issue to the next trying to make somethings stick to Obama and slow his momentum particaluarly among Independents.

Finaly somehting has stuck and it is a perfect McCain/Palin Republican wedge issue.

Joe the Plumber, also known as the everyman, white, middle age, “face” of america.  The face that represents fear.  Fear of the unknown, as in the black man. Fear of “spreading it around” as in your money. Fear of “liberal policies” as in taxes.

These are the fears the Republicans have been counting on for months and now through the lens of Joe the Plumber they have their issue.

See, this is the one that despite the fact it is absurd, and that it is in fact the Democrats and the Obama campaign that have been running their entire platform about the Middle class and helping them.  So what does Obama do now that McCain found his club?

Especially when it is your issue you are being smacked with.

Their is no doubt that this is McCains last opportunity to close the gap with Obama and make a push.  With 2 weeks left their are only so many news cycles remaining and this is the last ditch, all hands on deck smear/fear/distort effort by them. I think that between this issue, the ayer and acorn distortions and Palin appearing on Saturday Night live that this will be the weekend that the McCain camp closes the distance with Obama and makes it a tie heading into election day.

The Obama camp had this won easily, they took their eye off the ball at the worst moment on an issue they owned and now they are going to be in for a dog fight.

The answer for Obama is something along the lines of a string of speeches and ads turning this on its end and to embrace every “Joe” as the middle class, how his policies are all about the middle class and helping them and literally not mention Joe the plumber again.  

If Powell endorses Obama  Sunday that will be the news cycle for Monday and maybe this gets beaten down but i think the McCain team is going to turn this issue into a delicately worded race issue and class issue re casting Obama further into the world of socialism, taxer and unamerican in a confused, debateless frenzy to whip up doubt in the independent.