Who’s Joe?

Watching the third and final Presidential debate brought me to this question. Who is this “Joe” McCain and Obama started talking to? Is he an imaginary friend they both see?

Well it turns out Joe the plumber is Joe Wurzelbacher of Holland, Ohio, a man Obama walking door to door earlier in the week. Obama and Wurzelbacher spoke for seven minutes and Obama said it was good practice for tonight’s debate. Below is the conversation with Obama and the plumber who’s now getting his 15 minutes in the spot light from Embedded Producers.

Scoring the final showdown I’d have to give it 51-49 for Obama. McCain was better than his last two trips to the forum, but he still stays with that “my friends” line and tries to cloud the waters with attacks on Obama’s character that for the most part have backfired on him in the past. McCain knows first hand it’s like to deal with having his character assassinated. In the 2000 race the George W. Busk camp used this kind of attack in South Carolina to say McCain actually was the biological father of one of his adopted children. That stunt partly cost him the GOP nomination in 2000. He could have made better use of his time with chiming out his symphony for change. Obama could have tried not to let the badgering get under his skin. The displeasure on his face spoke volumes about how long this has been going on.

After watching all three President debates and the Vice Presidential debate I’m say I’m still not ready to commit to either McCain or Obama. At their core, both appear to be good men. Probably the reason I can’t pull the lever rest mainly on the fact that neither has hit one out of the park with their stands. While they’re throwing around proposals for tax credits and vouchers for various situations, I haven’t heard one that sounds authentically new.

One group that I’d like to see receive a tax credit is for child support. The group is a large and unfortunately I’m one of them. This demographic remains undiscovered by both sides and they’ve got no lines in this movie we’re calling the Presidential Race 2008. NASCAR dads, soccer moms and Joe the Plumber been scripted in and weekend Dads and Moms are flowing in out of the frame in the background. If there was a child support tax credit it might be the carrot needed by some  to pay their child support. States might even wind up spending less on the stick or enforcement to collect the delinquent support payments.

What do you think? Do you have an position that you feel has been left out the dialogue during this election cycle?